Almonte v. New York Medical College 851 F. Supp. 34

RULING ON MOTION TO DISMISS

NEVAS, District Judge.

The plaintiffs Gladys and Ricardo Almonte (“plaintiffs”) bring this negligence action in­dividually and on behalf of their son, Denny Almonte, against the defendants New York Medical College (the “College”), and Dr. Douglas Ingram (“Ingram”). Plaintiffs al­lege that their son was sexually assaulted by Dr. Joseph DeMasi (“DeMasi”), a psychiatric resident at New York College, who received psychoanalytic training from Ingram, and disclosed to Ingram during this training that he was a pedophiliac.

As to the College, the complaint alleges two causes of action for common law negli­gence, an action for breach of contract, and a cause of action for failure to warn. As to Ingram, the complaint alleges a cause of action for negligence based on his duty to DeMasi’s- future patients.

Presently, Ingram moves to dismiss the claim against him pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P. on the grounds that it is barred by the Connecticut Statute of Limi­tations and it fails to assert a claim against Ingram for which relief can be granted. For the reasons that follow, this motion [doc. # 11] is DENIED.1

*36 STANDARD OF REVIEW

When considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the court is required to accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint and draw inferences from these allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Ea­ston v. Sundram, 947 F.2d 1011, 1014-15 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1943, 118 L.Ed.2d 548 (1992). Dismiss­al is warranted only if, under any set of facts that the plaintiff can prove consistent with the allegations, it is clear that no relief can be granted. See Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984); Frasier v. General Elec. Co., 930 F.2d 1004, 1007 (2d Cir.1991). “The issue on a motion to dismiss is not whether the plaintiff will prevail, but whether the plaintiff is entitled to offer evidence to sup­port his or her claims.” United States v. Yale New Haven Hosp., 727 F.Supp. 784, 786 (D.Conn.1990) (citing Scheuer, 416 U.S. at 232, 94 S.Ct. at 1684).

FACTS

With this standard in mind, the facts are as follows. At the time that Dr. Joseph DeMasi was a psychiatric post-graduate stu­dent/resident at New York Medical College, he applied to and was accepted into the medical school’s Division of Psychoanalytic Training. A resident’s decision to enter this division is voluntary, and although training in psychoanalysis is not mandatory for a resi­dent to become a psychiatrist, it is mandato­ry if the resident wishes to become a psy­choanalyst. Thus, once a student enrolls in the Division of Psychoanalytic training, as DeMasi did, the student is required to under­go analysis, and Ingram was DeMasi’s ana­lyst. (See also doe. #32.)

During his training, DeMasi told Ingram that he was a pedophiliac. Ingram was also aware that DeMasi intended to enter child psychiatry as a profession. At no time did Ingram attempt to prevent Demasi from treating children or to prevent Demasi’s pro­motion to a position of responsibility.

Prior to September of 1986, the College entered into a written agreement to affiliate with Danbury Hospital. As part of his train­ing, Demasi did a psychiatric rotation at Danbury Hospital, but the College failed to apprise the hospital of Demasi’s prior unsat­isfactory clinical evaluations. In September of 1986, Denny, who was ten years old at the time, was referred to the Danbury Hospital Crisis Center for treatment for possible sui­cidal ideation. Denny was also considered to be borderline mentally retarded. During this treatment, Demasi sexually assaulted and threatened Denny on a number of occa­sions. As a result of said sexual assaults and threats, Denny suffered severe personal inju­ries.

DISCUSSION

Ingram argues that this claim is barred by the Connecticut statute of limitations, and that under New York substantive law, the plaintiffs fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The court disagrees.

A. Statute of Limitations

The parties agree that a Connecticut stat­ute of limitations governs this action. The parties disagree, however, as to which stat­ute of limitations should apply. Ingram ar­gues that the claim against him sounds in professional negligence such that Conn.Gen. Stat. § 52-5842 applies, and under this stat­ute the action against him is clearly untimely.

*37The plaintiffs contend, however, that the applicable statute of limitations is not § 52-­584, but rather § 52-577d, which states:

no action to recover damages for personal injury to a minor, including emotional dis­tress, caused by sexual abuse, sexual ex­ploitation or sexual assault may be brought by such person later than seventeen years from the date such person attains the age of majority.

Although this action is seeking to recover damages for a personal injury to a minor caused by sexual assault, Ingram argues that the extended limitation was intended to apply only to the perpetrators of the sexual assault, not to individuals such as Ingram who are not the actual offenders. Thus, relying on the legislative history of the statute which refers to the intent to expand the right of action against “offenders,” Ingram contends that because the action is not against Dema-­si, the perpetrator of the abuse, § 52-577d does not apply.

The court is now asked to revisit an issue previously presented, but not decided, in a prior ease before this court. See Doe v. British Univers. N. Am. Club, 788 F.Supp. 1286, 1290 n. 1 (D.Conn.1992). In Doe, this court recognized the absence of controlling case law on this issue, and indicated that the matter was better resolved by the Connecti­cut courts. As there still is no Connecticut precedent to govern this analysis, the court must decide this issue as it believes the Connecticut Supreme Court would. Under­taking this analysis, the court concludes that § 52-577d is not limited to actions against the actual perpetrators of the sexual abuse, and applies to this ease.

1. Statutory Language and Legislative Intent

The court’s conclusion is driven in large part by the language of the statute. Quite simply, the statute does not expressly limit its application to offenders; rather, ref­erence to the unambiguous language of the statute indicates that the statutory focus is on actions flowing from a particular type of harm, and not parties. In other words, in defining the scope of the statute, courts should look to whether the underlying harm was allegedly “caused by sexual abuse, sexu­al exploitation or sexual assault,” § 52-577d, rather than whether the named defendants are potentially primarily or only secondarily liable for the alleged harm.

Such a harm-based (rather than party-­based) approach is consistent with the legis­lative intent behind the statute. As the Con­necticut Supreme Court has explained, “[a]l-­though statutes of limitation generally oper­ate to prevent the unexpected enforcement of stale claims ...; one object of § 52-577d is to afford a plaintiff sufficient time to recall and come to terms with traumatic childhood events before he or she must take action.” Roberts v. Caton, 224 Conn. 483, 493, 619 A.2d 844 (1993) (citing to House and Senate debate concerning Public Act 91-240, at 34 H.R.Proc., Pt. 13, 1991 Sess. 4706-4707 and 34 S.Proc., Pt. 7, 1991 Sess. 2495). Indeed, the statute of limitations was extended from two to seventeen years after the victim reaches majority following “substantial testi­mony before the Committee that minor vic­tims of sexual assault often do not under­stand or recognize the damage which they have sustained until a substantial number of years after they attain majority.” Roberts, 224 Conn. at 493 n. 8, 619 A.2d 844 (quoting comment of Senator Anthony V. Avallone, 34 S.Proe., Pt. 7, 1991 Sess. 2495).

In recognizing that it may take years for a victim to come to terms with the sexual abuse, the Legislature implicitly understood that it may take as much time to identify those responsible for the abuse: It is only logical that the abuse and the abuser must be identified before the chain of responsibility can be discovered.3 Thus, were § 52-577d *38limited to actions against perpetrators only, many if not most non-offender prospective defendants would, for all practical purposes, be rendered immune to suit. Such a result is both contrary to public policy and inconsis­tent with the Legislature’s intent to broaden the remedies available to victims of sexual abuse through the extended limitations peri­od.4

2. Application of Specific Over General Statutes

Furthermore, although there is no Connecticut case law directly addressing this issue, at least one court has applied § 52-­577d to non-perpetrators. In the consolidat­ed cases, See v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp, et al. and Rosado v. Bridge­port Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., et al., 1993 WL 382300 (Conn.Super.1993) (Freed­man, J.), the defendants—the alleged priest/offender and the church—argued that the general statutes of limitations for person­al injuries applied, rather than § 52-577d.

lt is unclear whether the parties raised the question, at issue here, concerning the scope of § 52-577d and the Connecticut Superior Court did not discuss this issue. Instead, relying on the rule of statutory construction favoring application of specific over general statutes, the Superior Court held that the eases were governed by the more specific statute of limitations contained in § 52-577d, rather than the more general statutes of limitations in § 52-577 or § 52-584. Accord Borawick v. Shay, 1993 WL 127087, *2, *5 (D.Conn. Jan. 27, 1993) (in action against perpetrators, court held that the more recent and specific limitation in § 52-577d applied over that in § 52-584). This rule of statuto­ry construction favors application of § 52-­577d in this case as well.5

The Superior Court’s ruling in See and Rosado is further significant insofar as the court’s analysis does not distinguish between the perpetrator and non-perpetrator defen­dants. Other jurisdictions with similar stat­utes of limitations have also applied such statutes uniformly without distinguishing be­*39tween defendants. See, e.g., Doe v. Coffee County Bd. of Educ., 852 S.W.2d 899 (Tenn.­Ct.App.1993) (applying uniform analysis of Tennessee extended statute of limitations for sexual abuse with respect to offender and non-offender defendants); K.E. v. Hoffman, 452 N.W.2d 509 (Minn.Ct.App.1990) (making no distinction between offender and non-of­fender defendants with respect to interpreta­tion of Minnesota’s extended statute of limi­tations).

In sum, although the defendants in this action are not the perpetrators of the alleged sexual abuse, this action remains one to re­dress harm allegedly caused by sexual abuse. Therefore, following the suggested harm-­based approach, the court finds that the ex­tended statute of limitations in § 52-577d applies to this action, and the complaint is timely.

B. Failure to State a Claim for which Re­lief can be Granted

Ingram also argues that plaintiffs fail to state a viable claim for negligence because under New York law (1) he had no duty to the child, (2) any information he had was privileged and (3) because the child’s claim must fail, the parents’ derivative claims must fail as well.

Plaintiffs contend that (1) Connecticut, not New York, law applies and (2) Ingram had a special relationship with Demasi and there­fore had a duty to warn of or control Dema-­si’s foreseeable conduct. The court agrees.

1. Conflict of Law

“A federal court sitting in diversity is bound to apply the law of the forum state. This includes conflict of law principles.” Economu v. Borg-Warner Corp., 652 F.Supp. 1242, 1246 (D.Conn.1987) (citations omitted), aff'd, 829 F.2d 311 (2d Cir.1987). Under Connecticut choice of law principles, the governing law is that of the “ ‘state which ... has the most significant relationship to the occurrence and the parties....’” O’Connor v. O’Connor, 201 Conn. 632, 650 [519 A.2d 13] (1986) (quoting Restatement (Second) Conflicts of Laws § 145). To deter­mine' the forum with the most significant relationship in the context of a tort ease, the court considers ‘“(a) the place where the injury occurred, (b) the place where the con­duct causing the injury occurred, (c) the ... residence ... and place of business of the parties, and (d) the place where the relation­ship, if any, between the parties is cen­tered.’ ” Id. (quoting Restatement (Second) Conflicts of Law § 145(2)).

With these considerations in mind, the court finds that Connecticut law applies. Connecticut was both the place of injury as well as the place where at least some of the injury-causing conduct occurred.6 Further­more, all of the plaintiffs reside in Connecti­cut and Connecticut is the forum where the relationship between the parties, established through DeMasi at Danbury Hospital, was centered. Moreover, application of Connecti­cut law is consistent with the doctrine of lex loci delicti,7 to which Connecticut still ad­heres, albeit not without exception. O’Con­nor, 201 Conn. at 15, 21-22, 519 A.2d 13 (doctrine applies unless result is arbitrary or irrational).

Ingram argues that application of Connect­icut law would create an arbitrary result as it would mean that Ingram, who practices in New York and has no ties to Connecticut, would be governed by foreign and potentially conflicting law. Ingram also argues that New York has an important interest in ap­plying its law in this case because under New York law, plaintiffs’ claims would not be via­ble as any disclosure by Demasi was privi­leged and therefore Ingram was barred from disclosing the information. Both arguments are, however, unavailing.

First, by affiliating with Danbury Hospital, the College and Ingram were at least put on notice that they might be sued in Connecticut such that application of Connecticut law is not as anomalous as Ingram contends. In addition, the court’s review of relevant New *40York case law indicates that the New York privilege is not as absolute as Ingram con­tends; indeed People v. Saaratu, 143 Misc.2d 1075, 541 N.Y.S.2d 889 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1989), re­lied on by Ingram, has been disagreed with by subsequent New York cases. See, e.g., McBarnette v. Feldman, 153 Misc.2d 627, 582 N.Y.S.2d 900 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1992); People v. Figueroa, 173 A.D.2d 156, 568 N.Y.S.2d 957 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1991), app. denied, 78 N.Y.2d 1075, 577 N.Y.S.2d 239, 583 N.E.2d 951 (1991); People v. Gomez, 147 Misc.2d 704, 556 N.Y.S.2d 961 (Sup.Ct.1990). There­fore, New York’s interest is this case does not outweigh Connecticut’s, and Connecticut law shall apply.

2. Existence of Duty

Finally, to sustain their action for negligence, the court must find that Ingram had a duty to protect the plaintiffs. Under Connecticut law, a court may find a duty to use care where it is foreseeable that harm may result if such care is not exercised. British Univers. N. Am. Club, 788 F.Supp. at 1292. The parties agree that to determine whether Ingram had any duty to control DeMasi’s conduct, the court should look to the Restatement (Second) Torts § 315 which provides:

There is no duty to control the conduct of a third person as to prevent him from causing physical harm to another unless:

(a) a special relationship exists between the actor and the third person which im­poses a duty upon the actor to control the third person’s conduct, or

(b) a special relationship exists between the actor and the other which gives to the other the right to protection.

The majority of courts addressing the relationship between a psychiatrist and a vol­untary patient have found that “the psychia­trist has a duty to control the patient only when he knows or has reason to know that the patient poses a specific threat to a partic­ular person or when the patient is involun­tarily committed.” Fraser v. United States, Civ. No. 5:87CV00125 (WWE), slip op. at 7, 1993 WL 667632 (D.Conn. July 15, 1993). Accord Tarasoff v. Regents of the Univers. of Cal., 17 Cal.3d 425, 131 Cal.Rptr. 14, 20, 551 P.2d 334, 340 (1976) (therapist may incur an obligation to protect a patient’s intended vic­tim). See also Brady v. Hopper, 570 F.Supp. 1333, 1338 (D.Colo.1983) (“Unless a patient makes specific threats, the possibility that he may inflict injury on another is vague, specu­lative and a matter of conjecture.”), aff'd, 751 F.2d 329 (10th Cir.1984). See generally Cur­rie v. United States, 644 F.Supp. 1074, 1080-84 (M.D.N.C.1986) (discussing distinction be­tween duty to control and to warn and advo­cating “psychotherapist judgment rule” as standard of review); aff'd, 836 F.2d 209 (4th Cir.1987).

In Fraser, for example, the court held that the Veteran’s Hospital did not have a special relationship with a voluntary psychiatric out­patient that would support imposition of a duty to control the patient owed to the gen­eral public. Fraser, slip op. at 10. But see Tarasoff, 551 P.2d at 343 (relationship be­tween therapist and patient satisfies the “special relationship” requirement).

The present case is, however, distinguish­able from Fraser on a number of grounds. First, the relationship between Ingram and Demasi was not solely that between a psychi­atrist and a voluntary patient. Rather, In­gram was DeMasi’s instructor as well as his analyst, and thus had official authority or control over DeMasi that does not exist in the usual analyst-voluntary patient relation­ship.

This two-tiered, and arguably quasi-custo­dial, relationship also leads to another distin­guishing factor: because Ingram was Dema-­si’s medical school instructor as well as his psychoanalyst, Ingram had reason to know that Demasi posed a specific threat to a specific group of persons, namely future mi­nor patients, with whom DeMasi would nec­essarily interact as part of his training.

Furthermore, unlike the other cases re­jecting a duty to control owed to the public by a psychiatrisVanalyst, Ingram, in his ca­pacity as DeMasi’s medical school instructor, had feasible and not unreasonably burden- . some mechanisms for control available to him. Cf. Kaminski v. Fairfield, 216 Conn. 29, 35, 578 A.2d 1048 (1990) (duty to control generally found “in the context of profession­*41al custodians with special competence to con­trol the behavior of those in their charge.”); Tarasoff, 551 P.2d at 342 (among other fac­tors, court should consider burden to the defendant and consequences to the communi­ty of imposing the duty). For example, In­gram could have taken steps to redirect De-­Masi’s professional development without even compromising the confidentiality of De-­Masi’s disclosures to him.

Moreover, regardless of whether plaintiffs have alleged a sufficient basis upon which to find that Ingram owed a duty to control Demasi’s conduct, the court finds that the plaintiffs have at least alleged adequate grounds upon which to find that Ingram had a duty to warn. See Fraser, slip. op. at 10; see also Kaminski, 216 Conn. at 37, 578 A.2d 1048. As the California court in Tarasojf explained, “[w]hen a therapist determines, or pursuant to the standards of his profession should determine, that his patient presents a serious danger of violence to another, he incurs an obligation to use reasonable care to protect the intended victim against such dan­ger,” and the discharge of this duty may include the duty to “warn the intended victim or others likely to apprise the victim of the danger_” Tarasoff, 551 P.2d at 340. Ac­cord White v. United States, 780 F.2d 97, 101 (D.C.Cir.1986) (recognizing duty to warn and noting that the Tarasojf rule is followed in a number of jurisdictions); Jablonski v. United States, 712 F.2d 391, 398 (9th Cir.1983) (fol­lowing Tarasojf even though no specific threats made to victim).

Significantly, the Connecticut Supreme Court in Kaminski did not reject Tarasojf, but merely distinguished the case on its facts. Indeed, in distinguishing Tarasojf, the Connecticut Supreme Court appears to have accepted “the rule that a psychiatrist who knows or should know that a patient poses a threat to a particular victim or class of vic­tims has a duty to warn such victims of the danger-” Fraser, slip op. at 10 (citing Kaminski, 216 Conn. at 37, 578 A.2d 1048) (emphasis added).

Here, the plaintiffs allege that although Ingram knew that DeMasi was a pedophiliac and that he intended to pursue and practice child psychiatry, neither Ingram nor the Col­lege took any steps on the basis of this knowledge. Because the court finds that a self-confessed pedophiliac who intends to practice child psychiatry presents a foresee­able threat of harm to future minor patients, and assuming that Ingram and the College could have, but did not, take steps to warn Danbury hospital or otherwise protect future patients such as Denny, the court concludes that the plaintiffs’ complaint states a claim against Ingram and the College for failure to exercise reasonable care- to protect Denny against such foreseeable harm. Compare British Univers. N. Am. Club, 788 F.Supp. at 1292 (finding no duty to warn about counsel- or’s sexual orientation because sexual moles­tation is not a foreseeable risk of homosexu­ality).

CONCLUSION

Based on the foregoing, Ingram’s motion to dismiss [doc. # 11] is DENIED.

SO ORDERED.