United States First Circuit

In plaintiffs' civil rights action brought following the death of their son against a facility operated by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections that serves as both a prison and a mental hospital, its superintendent, and others, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) defendant-superintendent is entitled to qualified immunity as a reasonable official in defendant's place, given the circumstances and the legal standard, could have believed that allowing a certain practice to continue would not lead to events that would violate a patient's rights; 2) commissioner is also entitled to qualified immunity as a reasonable official in his position could have reasonably believed that staffing that met the hospital's recommendations was sufficient to avoid constitutional violations; and 3) the district court properly dismissed the plaintiffs' state law claims as barred by the Eleventh Amendment.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/17/2009
• Published 12/17/2009

Judges

• Before LYNCH, Chief Judge, STAHL, Circuit Judge, and DiCLERICO, District Judge.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Jerrold N. Arnowitz, with whom Arnowitz, Goldberg, and Mann, LLC, was on brief for appellees., Daniel G. Cromack, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Martha Coakley, Attorney General, and Ronald F. Kehoe, Assistant Attorney General, were on brief for appellees.