Case Title: White v. University of Wyoming

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 1998-04-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
White v. University of Wyoming1998 WY 44954 P.2d 983Case Number: 97-51Decided: 04/01/1998Supreme Court of Wyoming

 

Janet WHITE and Stuart White, individually and as the 
executors and administrators of the estate of Chauncey White, 
Appellants

(Plaintiffs),

v.

The UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING; Sherene McHenry, 
individually and as employee and/or agent of the University of Wyoming; 
and

Bobbi Johnstone, individually and as employee and/or 
agent of the University of Wyoming, Appellees 
(Defendants).

 

Appeal from District Court, 
Laramie County, Edward L. Grant, J.

 

Timothy C. Kingston of 
Graves, Miller & Kingston, P.C., Cheyenne, for 
Appellants.

J. Kent Rutledge, Corinne E. 
Rutledge and Stephen A. Fermelia of Lathrop & Rutledge, Cheyenne, for 
Appellees.

 

Before TAYLOR, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, GOLDEN and 
LEHMAN, JJ.

 

LEHMAN, 
Justice.

 

[¶1] Appellants, Janet and 
Stuart White (Whites), seek review of the district court's summary judgment 
disposing of their wrongful death claims against appellees, the University of 
Wyoming (UW) and UW employees Sherene McHenry and Bobbi Johnstone. The Whites' 
claims arose out of the suicide death of their son, Chauncey White, while he was 
a student at UW. We affirm.

 

[¶2] The Whites pose these 
issues:

 

A. 
Did the University of Wyoming and the Appellee employees act as "health care 
providers" within the meaning of Wyo.Rev.Stat. § 
1-39-110(a)?

 

B. 
Did the Trial Court err in holding that the Appellees were immune from liability 
under the Wyoming Governmental Immunity Act?

 

[¶3] The appellees summarize 
the issue in this way:

 

Was the trial court correct as a matter of law that 
the Appellees were not "health care providers" pursuant to Wyoming Statute § 
1-39-110(a) and under the undisputed material facts of this case, and were 
therefore immune from liability under Section 1-39-104(a) of the Wyoming 
Governmental Claims Act?

 

                             
                 FACTS

 

[¶4] Chauncey White enrolled 
as a freshman at UW in the fall of 1990 when he was eighteen years old. He lived 
in Downey Hall, a dormitory on the UW campus. On December 14, 1990, White was 
found intoxicated in Downey Hall. His speech was slurred, and he had vomited. 
Because White was an underage drinker, and because McHenry, the Hall Director, 
was concerned that White might asphyxiate in his sleep, she called the 
University Police. The campus police arrived at Downey Hall at about 10:45 p.m., 
arrested White, and then took him to Ivinson Memorial Hospital. White was 
discharged from the hospital at 1:45 a.m., on December 15, 1990.  Sometime between 4:00 and 6:00 that 
morning White inflicted superficial wounds on his wrists with a dull pocket 
knife or razor blade.  McHenry 
talked with White and assessed his risk of committing suicide. Although she 
determined he was not suicidal, McHenry again contacted the University Police 
and requested they contact the University Counseling Center's Crisis 
Intervention Team (CIT)1.

 

[¶5] The University Police 
called CIT; and Johnstone, the CIT volunteer on duty, responded to the call. She 
went to Downey Hall and talked with White for an hour or more on December 15, 
1990, in an effort to assess White's risk of committing suicide. White denied 
that he had attempted to commit suicide and assured Johnstone that he was not 
suicidal. Johnstone determined that White did not have a plan, or access to a 
means, to commit suicide and that he had a good support system of friends. 
Johnstone talked to White about counseling and the UW Counseling Center, and 
White told Johnstone he was willing to seek counseling. Johnstone concluded that 
White was at low risk at that time to do further harm to himself, which ended 
the crisis intervention. White's parents were not informed of the 
incident.

 

[¶6] Two years later, on 
March 22, 1993, Chauncey White committed suicide. The Whites filed a wrongful 
death action against appellees, alleging that McHenry, Johnstone and the 
University were negligent and breached a fiduciary duty to the Whites by failing 
to adequately monitor, treat, counsel, or give notice to the Whites in response 
to their son's December 1990 suicide attempt. In response, appellees filed a 
motion for summary judgment. On January 6, 1997, the district court granted the 
motion, finding appellees immune under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act. The 
Whites timely filed this appeal.

 

                                       
STANDARD OF REVIEW

 

[¶7] Summary judgment is 
appropriate where there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the 
moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. W.R.C.P. 56; Cline v. 
State, Dep't of Family Servs., 927 P.2d 261, 262 (Wyo. 1996). This court 
evaluates the propriety of summary judgment using the same standards and 
materials used by the district court, affording no deference to the district 
court's decision on issues of law. Id. We look at the record from the viewpoint 
most favorable to the party opposing the motion, allowing that party all 
reasonable inferences which may be fairly drawn from the record. Id. at 
262-63.

 

                                           
DISCUSSION

 

[¶8] Under the Wyoming 
Governmental Claims Act, governmental entities and their employees are immune 
from tort liability except as specifically provided in the Act. W.S. 1-39-104 
(1997). The University of Wyoming is a governmental entity as that phrase is 
defined in W.S. 1-39-103(a)(i) (1997). Section 1-39-110(a) 
provides:

 

(a) A governmental entity is liable for damages 
resulting from bodily injury, wrongful death or property damage caused by the 
negligence of health care providers who are employees of the governmental 
entity, * * * while acting within the scope of their 
duties.

 

The Whites contend that 
McHenry and Johnstone were "health care providers" within the meaning of W.S. 
1-39-110(a) and, therefore, appellees are not immune from 
liability.

 

[¶9] The Claims Act does not 
define the term "health care provider." In Troyer v. State, Dep't of Health and 
Social Servs., 722 P.2d 158, 161 (Wyo. 1986), we combined the ordinary 
dictionary definitions of the words health, care, and provider, and concluded 
that a "health care provider" is "one who cures or prevents impairments of the 
normal state of the body." In May v. Southeast Wyoming Mental Health Center, 866 P.2d 732, 737 (Wyo. 1993), we applied the Troyer definition to determine whether 
the defendants were health care 
providers. The legislature amended the Claims Act2 after our decisions in Troyer and 
May and had the opportunity to correct our decisions interpreting the Act, if we 
were in error. Because it did not, we can assume that those decisions correctly 
reflected the legislative intent when they interpreted "health care provider" to 
mean "one who cures or prevents impairments of the normal state of the body." 
See Darrar v. Bourke, 910 P.2d 572, 577 (Wyo. 1996).

 

[¶10] The Whites claim there 
are genuine issues of material fact with respect to the duties of McHenry and 
Johnstone. In reviewing the record from the vantage most favorable to the Whites 
and giving them the benefit of all favorable inferences that can be drawn from 
the record, we do not find that to be the case. Once McHenry and Johnstone 
established their duties as a matter of fact, the issue of whether they were 
health care providers is a question of law which is an appropriate matter for 
summary judgment. Matthews v. Wyoming Dep't of Agriculture, 719 P.2d 216, 219 
(Wyo. 1986).

 

[¶11] McHenry was the Hall 
Director of Downey Hall. In her deposition testimony, McHenry testified that 
assessing suicide risk was part of her job. She was trained to look at whether 
the individual had a plan to commit suicide, whether the individual had access 
to a means of committing suicide, and how lethal those means were. Hall 
directors were also trained to call campus police if necessary when dealing with 
alcohol problems, and instructed to call campus police and involve the Crisis 
Intervention Team when dealing with individuals who may pose a threat to 
themselves or others.

 

[¶12] Johnstone was the 
Assistant Director for Fraternity/Sorority Life in the Office of Student Life. 
Her educational background included a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology 
and a Master's degree in counseling. Johnstone's job responsibilities included 
supervising fraternities and sororities on the UW campus as well as dealing with 
students who walked into her office with a variety of student life concerns. As 
a part of her work, Johnstone would talk with students about situational 
problems that could be resolved by referring them to a service, providing information, 
or giving support. She stated that the "counseling" she did in the Student Life 
Office was oriented toward developmental issues that arise when students are in 
the college environment, away from home and still in the maturing process. 
Johnstone distinguished the counseling she provided from that provided by the 
counseling center, which was often of longer duration and had different 
purposes. According to Johnstone, the counseling center was staffed by 
counseling psychologists.

 

[¶13] Johnstone was a 
volunteer member of the campus Crisis Intervention Team, and she was acting in 
that capacity when she interacted with White. She qualified for the CIT because 
she was a University employee with a Master's degree in counseling. The stated 
purpose of the CIT is "to provide emergency assistance to full-time students of 
the University and clients of the Counseling Center in such a way as to provide 
for both the welfare of the individual student and the University Community." 
The CIT objectives are to "function as situational assessors/managers, crisis 
counseling intervenors, and referral resources to support services." In both her 
positions, Johnstone was trained to assess suicide risk; and, as a CIT 
volunteer, she received additional training in how to deal with crisis and 
emergency situations. 

 

[¶14] Both McHenry and 
Johnstone were responsible for assessing suicide risk and making referrals to 
appropriate support services.  
Neither position involved curing and preventing impairments of the normal 
state of the body. Neither position involved treating or diagnosing physical or 
mental illness. Neither position required medical training or medical licensure, 
and neither McHenry nor Johnstone had such training or were licensed or 
otherwise authorized to provide health care. We conclude, based on the 
undisputed facts presented in the summary judgment materials, that McHenry and 
Johnstone were not health care providers as contemplated by § 
1-39-110.

 

[¶15] Because McHenry and 
Johnstone were not health care providers, the Whites' claims are barred by the 
Claims Act. The order granting summary judgment is 
affirmed.

 

FOOTNOTES

1The 
Crisis Intervention Team is also referred to in the summary judgment materials 
as Crisis Intervention Services and the Emergency Intervention Team. We refer to 
the team throughout this opinion as the Crisis Intervention Team or 
CIT.

  

2Wyoming 
Statute 1-39-110, the section stating the specific exception for health care 
providers, was amended in 1988, 1989, and 1990. Section 1-39-103, the definition 
section of the Claims Act, was amended in 1989, 1993, and 1997.