Case Name: DANLEY v. YUZON
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1983-08-17
Citations: 128 Mich. App. 228
Docket Number: Docket Nos. 63531, 64213
Parties: DANLEY v YUZON
Judges: Before: Beasley, P.J., and M. J. Kelly and N. J. Lambros, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 128
Pages: 228–234

Head Matter:
DANLEY v YUZON
Docket Nos. 63531, 64213.
Submitted January 12, 1983, at Detroit.—
Decided August 17, 1983.
Leave to appeal applied for.
Helen Danley was committed to the Clinton Valley Center Hospital pursuant to an order of the Oakland Probate Court. She was also treated by physicians at the West Oakland Community Health Clinic. Both the hospital and the clinic are facilities of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Board. Subsequently, Helen Danley was discharged from the Valley Center. Thereafter, she died from drinking sulfuric acid. John Danley, individually, and as personal representative of the estate of Helen Danley, deceased, brought suit in Oakland Circuit Court against Ricardo A. Yuzon, M.D., O. K. Rhyun Lee, M.D., Audrey A. Crawford, and O. B. Lee, M.D., all employees of the Mental Health Board. The court, Robert C. Anderson, J., granted summary judgment for the defendants. The plaintiff appealed the summary judgment for Crawford and the Court of Appeals granted plaintiff leave to appeal the summary judgment for the remaining defendants and consolidated the appeals. Held:
The circuit court’s grant of summary judgment should be affirmed. Each individual defendant clearly acted within the scope of his or her employment in treating and discharging Helen Danley. Where the function of an employer is a governmental one, an employee is immune from tort liability if his act is within the scope of his employment. Publicly operated psychiatric facilities are engaged in governmental functions.
Affirmed.
References for Points in Headnotes
53 Am Jur 2d, Master and Servant § 180 et seq.
57 Am Jur 2d, Municipal, School, and State Tort Liability § 88.
40 Am Jur 2d, Hospitals and Asylums § 20 et seq.
Government tort liability for injuries caused by negligently released individual. 6 ALR4th 1155.
57 Am Jur 2d, Municipal, School, and State Tort Liability § 45 et seq.
20 Am Jur 2d, Courts §§ 189,195.
20 Am Jur 2d, Courts §§ 186, 189.
M. J. Kelly, J., concurred in part and dissented in part. He concurred with the majority opinion that the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment should be affirmed but believed that governmental immunity extends to public officials only if they are acting within the scope of their employment and only if their actions are of a discretionary rather than a ministerial nature. Because the defendants were engaged in governmental functions and were acting within essentially discretionary roles, they should be immune from civil liability.
Opinion of the Court
1. Governmental Immunity — Governmental Employees.
An individual employee is immune from tort liability while acting within the scope of his employment where the function of his employer is a governmental one.
2. Governmental Immunity — Governmental Functions — Publicly Operated Psychiatric Facilities.
Publicly operated psychiatric facilities should generally be considered to be engaged in governmental functions for purposes of governmental immunity from tort liability.
Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by M. J. Kelly, J.
3. Governmental Immunity — Public Officials.
Governmental immunity extends to public officials only if they are acting within the scope of their employment and only if their actions are of a discretionary rather than a ministerial nature.
4. Courts — Supreme Court — Plurality Decisions.
A plurality decision of the Supreme Court in which no majority of the justices participating agree as to the reasoning does not constitute binding precedent.
5. Courts — Stare Decisis.
The Court of Appeals is only bound by majority decisions of the Supreme Court; stare decisis should not be treated lightly.
Byron E. Siegel, for plaintiff.
Patterson, Patterson, Whitñeld, Manikoff, Ternan & White (by Gretel S. Robinson), for defendant Yuzon.
Bell & Hertler, P.C. (by David C. Hertler), for defendants Lee.
Franklin, Petrulis, Lichty & Mellon, P.C. (by Bruce W. Franklin and Irene A. Bruce), for defendant Crawford.
Before: Beasley, P.J., and M. J. Kelly and N. J. Lambros, JJ.
Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
Plaintiff appeals by right from a summary judgment in defendant Crawford's favor and by leave granted from a summary judgment for the other defendants. At issue is the application of governmental immunity to individual public employees.
Plaintiff's decedent was committed to Clinton Valley Center Hospital pursuant to a probate court order. She was also treated by physicians at the West Oakland Community Mental Health Clinic. On August 8, 1978, plaintiff's decedent was discharged from the Clinton Valley Center Hospital. On September 27, 1978, plaintiff's decedent died after she drank poison. Both the hospital and the clinic are facilities of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Board. The individual defendants are employed by the board.
The trial judge held that the individual defendants were protected by governmental immunity. This Court is split on the scope of governmental immunity as that doctrine is applied to individual employees. We believe that, where the function of the employer is a governmental one, an employee is immune if his act is within the scope of his employment. See Everhart v Roseville Community School Board, 108 Mich App 218; 310 NW2d 338 (1981), and Gaston v Becker, 111 Mich App 692; 314 NW2d 728 (1981). Publicly operated psychiatric facilities are generally considered to be engaged in governmental functions. Perry v Kalamazoo State Hospital, 404 Mich 205; 273 NW2d 421 (1978). Each individual defendant clearly acted within the scope of his or her employment in treating and discharging plaintiff's decedent.
Affirmed.