Court Opinion

ID: 9667350
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:43:23.685265+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:37.282862
License: Public Domain

*126M. J. Kelly, P.J.
(concurring). I concur in the result reached by the majority, but do not completely agree with the rationale of the per curiam opinion.
The statutory codification of governmental immunity, MCL 691.1407; MSA 3.996(107), extends protection to an individual only when he is engaged in the exercise of a governmental function and is acting within a discretionary rather than a ministerial role. Willis v Nienow, 113 Mich App 30, 39; 317 NW2d 273 (1982); Layton v Quinn, 120 Mich App 708; 328 NW2d 95 (1982).
The Supreme Court has determined that the operation of a public mental hospital is a governmental function. Perry v Kalamazoo State Hospital, 404 Mich 205; 273 NW2d 421 (1978) (4-3 decision). It follows, therefore, that when an individual performs functions within the normal scope of the operation of a public mental hospital, that individual is engaged in a governmental function.
Plaintiff’s complaint alleged defendants were negligent:
"a. in disregarding available information about plaintiff, Annie Mae Pomilee’s condition and failing to take a complete and proper medical history of the plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee’s condition;
"b. failing to ascertain the true quality of plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee’s condition when such condition was or should have been apparent to defendants;
"c. in making an erroneous diagnosis and allowing plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee to remain unwatched;
"d. in not restraining plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee when they knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known that she should have been restrained under the circumstances at said time and place;
"e. in leaving plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee in seclusion and unguarded when they knew or in the exercise *127of reasonable care should have known that the room plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee was in was in a state of disrepair;
"f. in leaving plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee in seclusion and unguarded when they knew or should have known that there were dangerous objects in the room that could and in fact did cause grievous injury to plaintiff Annie Mae Pomilee.”
These allegations assert defendants were negligent while acting within the normal scope of their duties at the Detroit Psychiatric Institute. Thus, defendants were engaged in the exercise of a governmental function.
Defendants are immune from liability, however, only if the alleged negligence occurred while defendants were acting in a discretionary rather than ministerial role. An individual is acting in a ministerial role when he "has a line of conduct marked out for him, and has nothing to do but to follow it”. Wall v Trumbull, 16 Mich 228, 235 (1867). In contrast, plaintiff’s complaint alleged that defendants committed errors in judgment. The discretionary-ministerial distinction protects individuals engaged in a governmental function from liability for errors in judgment.
I find that since defendants were engaged in a governmental function and were acting in a discretionary role, they are immune from liability.