Court Opinion

ID: 9750567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:07:26.88008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:12.725241
License: Public Domain

Billings, C.J.,
dissenting. I must dissent from the majority opinion since under the state of the law as it now exists in Vermont the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.
*69At common law a person has no duty to control the conduct of another, or to warn third parties endangered by such conduct. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 315 (1965); W. Prosser, Law of Torts ¶ 56 (5th ed. 1984); State v. Joyce, 139 Vt. 638, 641, 433 A.2d 271, 273 (1981). A recognized exception to the general rule arises if the defendant has power to control the actions of the other. Harper & Kime, The Duty to Control the Conduct of Another, 43 Yale L.J. 886, 895 (1934). Foreseeability of harm is fundamental, Dodge v. McArthur, 126 Vt. 81, 83, 223 A.2d 453, 454 (1966), and there is no duty to prevent harm or warn thereof when the harm is not foreseeable. Rivers v. State, 133 Vt. 11, 14, 328 A.2d 398, 400 (1974). A mental health professional’s power to control a voluntary patient (18 V.S.A. § 7611 et seq.) is limited to initiating proceedings for involuntary commitment to patients posing a danger to themselves. 18 V.S.A. § 7101(17). It is scientifically recognized that it is impossible to predict future violent behavior. The professional’s duty is to the patient, and not to others. See Cocozza & Steadman, Predictions in Psychiatry; An Example of Misplaced Confidence in Experts, 25(3) Soc. Probs. 265 (1978); Cocozza & Steadman, The Failure of Psychiatric Predictions of Dangerousness: Clear and Convincing Evidence, 29 Rutgers L. Rev. 1084 (1976). The majority, in their opinion, primarily rely on Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 17 Cal. 3d 425, 551 P.2d 334, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (1976), and its progeny. Jablonski v. United States, 712 F.2d 391 (9th Cir. 1983); Brady v. Hopper, 570 F. Supp. 1333 (D. Colo. 1983), aff’d, 751 F.2d 329 (10th Cir. 1984); Hedlund v. Superior Court of Orange County, 34 Cal. 3d 695, 669 P.2d 41, 194 Cal. Rptr. 805 (1983); Myers v. Quesenberry, 144 Cal. App. 3d 888, 193 Cal. Rptr. 733 (1983); Davis v. Lhim, 124 Mich. App. 291, 335 N.W.2d 481 (1983), remanded, 422 Mich. 875, 366 N.W.2d 7 (1985). In Petersen v. State, 100 Wash. 2d 421, 428, 671 P.2d 230, 237 (1983), it was determined that there was a duty to warn because of a mental health counselor’s special relationship, where the counselor believed, or should have believed, in the exercise of professional competence, that the patient would carry out a threat of serious violence to a specific person. This is a new departure in the law. In Tarasoff, the case was decided on the pleadings, on a motion to dismiss; the issue of foreseeability was not before the court since the pleadings therein alleged that the therapist did, in fact, predict that the patient would kill the plaintiff’s daughter; *70the court held there could be a duty to warn. Here the evidence discloses that there is no such actual knowledge on the part of the therapist, but, to the contrary, the counselor in good faith did not believe there was any threat to person or property by the patient, and so no duty arises. Sealey v. Finkelstein, 206 N.Y.S.2d 512 (Sup. Ct. 1960).
The issues here present an important social problem. If the common law requirements of the duty to warn, the foreseeability of harm, and ability to control are not warranted or necessary, that is for the legislature to decide. Likewise, the express statutory prohibition to disclose confidential patient information, if that is not warranted or necessary, again, it is for the legislature to decide. Otherwise we will be engaging in flagrant judicial legislation, which must be, and should be, left to the legislative branch of government. F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Commissioner of Taxes, 133 Vt. 93, 99, 328 A.2d 402, 406 (1974); State v. Ball, 123 Vt. 26, 31, 179 A.2d 466, 469-70 (1962). Here, there is no duty to warn, and under the present state of the law in Vermont, the lower court’s order dismissing the complaint is without error.
I am authorized to state Mr. Justice Peck joins in this dissent.