Terrance v. Northville Regional

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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. -XO\  WKH GHFHGHQW FRPSODLQHG RI IHHOLQJ ZHDN &RQVHTXHQWO\ 'U 6DLG RUGHUHG WHVWV WR EH UXQ RQ WKH ,,,&21&/86,21 GHFHGHQW  7KH WHVWV VKRZHG QR VLJQV RI K\SHUJO\FHPLD 'HVSLWH 1XUVH 2ZHQV¶V RUGHU WKH GHFHGHQW SDUWLFLSDWHG LQ )RU WKH IRUHJRLQJ UHDVRQV ZH $)),50 WKH JUDQW RI RXWGRRUDFWLYLW\IRUIRXUKRXUVRQWKHDIWHUQRRQRI-XO\ VXPPDU\MXGJPHQWDVWRGHIHQGDQWV'U3DQ 'U1DLU6U 7KH QH[W GD\ WKH GHFHGHQW ZDV ³UHWXUQHG WR WKH ZDUG 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