Court Opinion

ID: 9670563
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:22:28.436595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:05.235300
License: Public Domain

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 *231(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.