Terrance v. Northville Regional

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided April 8, 2002·No. 00-1971·Published

Opinion

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ZDUGDFWLYLWLHV%HFDXVHRIWKHGHFHGHQW¶VFRQGLWLRQVDQGKLV In the instant case, the decedent was involuntarily LQDELOLW\ WR IROORZ GLUHFWLRQV KH ZDV NHSW XQGHU VWDII committed. The lower court should have considered the VXSHUYLVLRQGXULQJRIIZDUGDFWLYLWLHV defendants’ duty to provide reasonable safety for the decedent under a heightened Fourteenth Amendment standard. Under 2Q-XQHDWWKHGLUHFWLRQRIWKHPHGLFDOVWDIIWKH this legal standard, there clearly was a genuine issue of GHFHGHQWEHJDQSDUWLFLSDWLQJLQFHQWUDOL]HGDFWLYLWLHV ³&$7´ material fact with regard to some of the defendants which LQWKHPRUQLQJVDQGZRUNWKHUDS\LQWKHDIWHUQRRQV2Q-XO\ could lead a rational fact finder to find in Terrance’s favor:   WKH GHFHGHQW ZDQGHUHG RII IURP &$7 EXW ZDV whether the actions and inactions of the named defendants DSSUHKHQGHG E\ VHFXULW\ DQG UHWXUQHG WR WKH ZDUG VHYHUDO were based upon accepted professional judgment. The facts KRXUVODWHU7KHGHFHGHQWZDVWKHQSODFHGRQ³HVFDSHDOHUW´ in this case could likely support a finding that one or more 'U6DGDVLYDQGLVFRQWLQXHGWKHHVFDSHDOHUWRQ-XO\DIWHU defendants committed a substantial departure from accepted WKHGHFHGHQWWROGWKHGRFWRUWKDWKHGLGQRWIHHOOLNHHVFDSLQJ professional judgment. Thus, the district court’s grant of 2ISDUWLFXODUQRWHKHUHLVWKDWDFFRUGLQJWRKRVSLWDOUHFRUGV summary judgment in defendants’ favor was erroneous. WKH RQO\ DLU FRQGLWLRQLQJ XQLW ZLWKLQ WKH ZDUG ZDV QRW Accordingly, we find that is necessary upon remand for the ZRUNLQJRQ-XO\DQGZDVQRWUHSDLUHGXQWLORQHZHHNODWHU district court to conduct a trial on plaintiff’s claims against each named defendant under the Fourteenth Amendment 2Q-XO\WKHGHFHGHQWWROG1XUVH2ZHQVWKDWKHZDQWHG standard as outlined in this opinion as the lower court has not WRUHWXUQWRWKH&$7SURJUDP1XUVH2ZHQVGHWHUPLQHGWKDW yet considered the decedent’s due process rights under this WKH GHFHGHQW VKRXOG QRW OHDYH WKH ZDUG XQWLO -XO\   2Q standard.

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Terrance v. Northville Regional, (6th Cir. 2002).

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