No. 12-P-401
Facts:
On November 1, 1995, the plaintiff was
civilly committed to Bridgewater State Hospital under G. L. c. 123, § 35 on the
petition of his wife, who feared he was a danger to himself because of his
alcoholism. He was housed and treated
with other civilly committed individuals in the Massachusetts addiction
center. In addition to civilly committed
individuals, present at the addiction center were guards and members of the
inner perimeter security (IPS) unit.
There were also "trustees," criminal
convicts who worked in the civil commitment area various
chores.
On November 23, 1995, the plaintiff sought to make a
telephone call to his wife. When it was his
turn to use the phone, a criminal convict working there told the plaintiff that he would
be using the telephone and that the plaintiff
could not use it. The plaintiff then
went to a second telephone. Immediately thereafter and
without any warning, the defendant struck the plaintiff in the side of his face.
There were many people in the common room that contained the telephones, including a guard's station with two
guards in it. No one in the immediate
area responded to the attack.
The plaintiff was eventually taken to the
IPS office. When he told an IPS officer
what had happened, the officer told him he was a liar and started putting on
tight black leather gloves. The plaintiff was ordered to strip, with
no explanation, and then was told to put his clothes back on. He ultimately saw a nurse, who concluded that
he needed to be seen by a doctor. Using
an expletive, one of the IPS officers said, "Throw him in the cage." Only after 30
minutes in a holding cell was he transported to Brockton
Hospital. The plaintiff lost
his eye, because all of the bones on the side of his
face were broken and his eye had been punctured. The plaintiff
lost sight in his left eye and continued
to have pain.
After
trial in the Superior Court, a jury found the Commonwealth liable and returned
a verdict in Mr. Devlin's favor in the amount of
$450,000. After a hearing, the trial
judge denied motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new
trial, but granted a motion for remittitur and reduced the judgment to $100,000
in accordance with G. L. c. 258, § 2, which provides that public employers
shall not be liable for damages in excess of $100,000. The
Commonwealth appealed.
SJC Holding:
The
SJC upheld the lower court’s ruling. The court concluded that the Commonwealth
lacked discretion to allow the convict into that area in accordance with G. L.
c. 123 § 35. Furthermore, the Commonwealth was not
entitled to immunity under § 10(j) of the MTCA. The affirmative decision by the
Commonwealth to allow convicted criminals to work in the same space where
civilly committed individuals were housed was an “original cause” of the plaintiff’s injury. As such the cap on judgments against the Commonwealth did
not apply.
Written 6/28/13
