Niemann v. Cooley

637 N.E.2d 943, 93 Ohio App. 3d 81, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 207
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1994
DocketNos. C-920470 and C-920457.
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 637 N.E.2d 943 (Niemann v. Cooley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Niemann v. Cooley, 637 N.E.2d 943, 93 Ohio App. 3d 81, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 207 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

*84 Marianna Brown Bettman, Judge.

These appeals arise out of a discovery dispute. The plaintiffs-appellees, Robert and Sharyn Niemann, are the parents of Eric Niemann, who died in an automobile accident. Subsequent to his death, they filed an action as personal representatives of their son’s estate, alleging damages for pain and suffering and emotional distress resulting from a sexual assault on Eric in 1984 by defendant George Cooley (“Father Cooley”) while he was associate pastor at Guardian Angels Parish in Cincinnati. In addition to Father Cooley, the Niemanns named as defendants Guardian Angels School, Guardian Angels Parish, and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (“the Archdiocese” and, collectively, “the Archdiocesan defendants”), alleging that they were responsible for Father Cooley’s actions on various theories of respondeat superior, negligent hiring and employment, and negligent supervision.

In pursuing discovery in the lawsuit, the Niemanns posed certain interrogatories and document requests to Father Cooley and to the Archdiocesan defendants. In answering interrogatories specifically directed to him, Father Cooley acknowledged that in 1979 he had been involved in an incident involving sexual contact with a minor boy that had resulted in a complaint to the priest personnel director, for which he subsequently received regular counseling due to the incident. He further stated that he could not recall the name of his counselor but that “he was a psychologist provided by a counseling service of the Archdiocese.” In response to a request to produce “health records, including physical and emotional examinations, treatment and counseling” while he was under the supervision of the Archdiocese, Father Cooley stated that, while he did not possess such records, “[i]f there are any they have been provided by [sic ] the Archdiocese.”

The Archdiocesan defendants were asked to identify “each and every” psychologist, doctor, psychiatrist “or other health provider” who had treated Father Cooley since 1970, and to provide dates for such treatment. The Archdiocesan defendants refused to provide such information on the basis of relevance and the physician-patient privilege. In response to another interrogatory, the Archdiocesan defendants stated that they were aware of the 1979 incident involving Father Cooley and that the matter had been referred to the Office of Priest Personnel “for investigation.” The Archdiocesan defendants further stated that “[a]s a result of this investigation, Cooley was required to receive regular and ongoing counseling.”

Also during the course of discovery, the Niemanns learned that the Archbishop of Cincinnati had caused to be created a canon law archive (“the secret archive *85 file”) for Father Cooley. The Niemanns sought discovery of this secret archive file and the Archdiocesan defendants refused to produce it.

The Niemanns thereafter filed a motion to compel discovery in which their counsel stated that Father Cooley had refused to sign a medical release authorizing them to receive those communications 1 he had allowed his “psychiatrist and counselors” to share with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Arguing that Father Cooley had waived any privilege with respect to these documents by sharing them with the Archdiocese, the Niemanns asked that the court issue an order compelling the defendants to produce the documents for inspection. In opposing this motion, Father Cooley argued that the communications sought by the Niemanns were protected by the physician-patient privilege, and that he had not waived this privilege. In opposing the same motion, the Archdiocesan defendants also argued that the communications requested by the Niemanns were protected by the physician-patient privilege, and that Father Cooley had not waived the privilege in allowing the Archdiocese to receive these communications, because they were received “in the course of the ongoing pastoral relationship between Cooley as an ordained priest of the Roman Catholic Church and his spiritual advisors.” While the Archdiocesan defendants alluded to the clergy privilege in this manner, they did not directly assert this privilege as a separate ground for opposing the motion to compel. The Archdiocesan defendants supplementally argued that the documents sought by the Niemanns were protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution because they were kept in “secret archives” protected by canon law.

A hearing was held on the matter, following which the trial court entered an order granting the Niemanns’ motion to compel. Specifically, the trial court found that Father Cooley had waived the physician-patient privilege regarding those communications which he authorized between his mental health providers and the Archdiocese. Therefore, in that part of the order which we will refer to as the “direct turn over order,” the trial court ordered Father Cooley 2 to produce *86 for the Niemanns “all communications and writings setting forth the date and content of any verbal communications or summaries thereof, from George Cooley’s psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors or other mental health providers to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati or employees or agents of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.” Furthermore, in that part of the order which we will refer to as the “in camera inspection order,” the trial court ordered the Archdiocese to produce for an in camera inspection by the court the “confidential/secret archive file” relating to Father Cooley exclusive of any communications between the Archdiocesan defendants and their attorneys. It is from this order that Father Cooley and the Archdiocesan defendants have filed separate appeals.

These appeals present two difficulties. One has to do with finality of the order appealed from; the other involves the state of the record before this court. We will address each in turn.

I

Subsequent to the briefing and oral arguments in this case, the Ohio Supreme Court handed down two decisions, Polikoff v. Adam (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 100, 616 N.E.2d 213, and Bell v. Mt. Sinai Med. Ctr. (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 60, 616 N.E.2d 181, which substantially affect the determination of what constitutes a final appealable order under the special-proceeding prong of R.C. 2505.02. The parties were thus given an opportunity to address this issue in supplemental briefs in light of these decisions. For the reasons which follow, we hold that the direct turn over order from which Father Cooley appeals is final and appealable, but that the in camera inspection order from which the Archdiocesan defendants appeal is not.

In order to understand our holding, we must review the decisions in both Polikoff and Bell, and also the decisions in State v. Port Clinton Fisheries, Inc. (1984), 12 Ohio St.3d 114, 12 OBR 157, 465 N.E.2d 865, and Humphry v. Riverside Methodist Hosp.

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Bluebook (online)
637 N.E.2d 943, 93 Ohio App. 3d 81, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/niemann-v-cooley-ohioctapp-1994.