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Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

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FILED 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

United States Court of Appeals 

'l't>?lth Circuit. 

APR 14198 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

JIMMY ALLEN, Personal Representative 

of the estate of Shirley Tinsley, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

v. 

CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, SOUTHWEST 

COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES, doing 

business as Kaseman Presbyterian 

Hospital, RICHARD GOMEZ, TROY 

BALDONADO, EDWARD M. SAGER, M.D., 

BERNALILLO COUNTY HEALTH CARE 

CORPORATION, doing business as 

Albuquerque Ambulance Service, 

Defendants-Appellees. 

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ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

No. 87-1923 

(D.C. No. 86-844SC) 

(D. N.M.) 

Before SEYMOUR and SETH, Circuit Judges, and SEAY, District 

Judge.** 

**Honorable Frank H. Seay, Chief Judge, United States District 

Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, sitting by 

designation. 

Shirley Tinsley filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 

(1982) alleging a deprivation of her right to liberty without due 

*This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 87-1923 Document: 010110035130 Date Filed: 04/14/1989 Page: 1 
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process based on defendants' conduct in involuntarily transporting 

and admitting her to the hospital. She further claimed defendants 

used excessive force in returning her to the hospital and 

detaining her against her will. She also brought pendent state 

claims for false imprisonment, assault and battery. The 

defendants in this action are the City of Albuquerque (City), 

Richard Gomez and Troy Baldonado, police officers, the Southwest 

Community Health Services d/b/a Kaseman Presbyterian Hospital 

(Kaseman Hospital), Edward Sager, the treating physician, and 

Bernalillo County Health Care Corporation d/b/a Albuquerque 

Ambulance Service (Albuquerque Ambulance). 

The claims against the various defendants were resolved as 

follows: 

On the Due Process Issue§ 1983: 

The court directed a verdict for Dr. Sager and Albuquerque 

Ambulance. 

Summary judgment was given to Kaseman Hospital. 

This claim against the police officers and the City was 

submitted to the jury which held for those defendants. 

On the Liberty Claim: 

Directed verdicts were entered for the defendants against 

whom the claim was directed. 

On the Constitutional Unreasonable Force Claim: 

The court entered directed verdicts for each defendant. 

On The False Imprisonment, Assault and Battery Claims: 

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Appellate Case: 87-1923 Document: 010110035130 Date Filed: 04/14/1989 Page: 2 
... 

These issues were submitted to the jury and it returned a 

verdict for each defendant. 

Mrs. Tinsley appeals the district court's entry of summary 

judgment in favor of Kaseman Hospital, and its granting a directed 

verdict on any of the§ 1983 claims. She also alleges that the 

district court committed error in giving improper jury 

instructions on several of the claims. 

We have examined the record and we must conclude that under 

the prevailing doctrines the trial court was correct in directing 

verdicts for all the parties on the unreasonable force claim. In 

brief, there was no evidence of force sufficient to support this 

claim to submit it to the jury. 

In Hewitt v. City of Truth or Consequences, 758 F.2d 1375, 

1379 (10th Cir.), we said: 

"Factors relevant to whether the use of force 

is excessive are the relationship between the 

amount of force used and the need presented, 

the extent of the injury inflicted, and the 

motives of the state officer. Force inspired 

by unwise, excessive zeal amounting to an 

abuse of official power that shocks the 

conscience, or by malice rather than mere 

carelessness, may be redressed under section 

1983." (Citations omitted.) 

See also Trujillo v. Goodman, 825 F.2d 1453 (10th Cir.), and Wise 

v. Bravo, 666 F.2d 1328 (10th Cir.). Again, as we said in Hewitt, 

at 1379: 

"We need not decide how egregious police 

conduct must be to rise to a substantial 

denial of due process. Wherever that line may 

be drawn, the conduct complained of here 

simply is not an abuse of power condemned by 

the Constitution." (Citation omitted.) 

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Appellate Case: 87-1923 Document: 010110035130 Date Filed: 04/14/1989 Page: 3 
As mentioned, the jury ultimately found for all the defendants on 

the assault and battery and the false imprisonment claims. 

As to the basic§ 1983 claims, the record contains no 

evidence as to color of state law, Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 

398 U.S. 144, to permit this issue to go to the jury as to 

Dr. Sager and Albuquerque Ambulance. The§ 1983 claims as to the 

City and the police officers did go to the jury, as mentioned, and 

the jury found for these defendants. We must conclude that 

considering the instructions as a whole there were none given and 

no omissions which would have prejudiced plaintiff's case. 

The issue relating to the New Mexico Health Emergency 

Commitment statute, N.M. STAT. ANN. § 43-1-10 (1978), was 

significant. However, the only objection plaintiff made at the 

proper time during trial as to this instruction was that the 

instruction omitted "important sections of the statute.'' Based on 

our review of the record, the instruction adequately stated the 

law as it applied to the facts of this case. Those portions of 

the statute Mrs. Tinsley claims should have been included were not 

relevant to this case. 

The plaintiff also objects to instructions as to the use of a 

consent form she signed, but we find no error. We find no proper 

objection to an omission from a damage instruction of specific 

expenses for ambulance and medical bills. We have examined this 

issue but must conclude that the record contains no proper 

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v' C. I • 

objection to the instructions which could serve as a basis for 

this issue on appeal. 

AFFIRMED. 

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Entered for the Court 

PER CURIAM 

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