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Lagow v. Segue8/17/2001
UNPUBLISHED
These consolidated appeals arise out of the murder of plaintiff's decedent, Tamara Welch. In Docket No. 219624, plaintiff Norman Lagow, personal representative of the estate of Tamara Welch, appeals as of right from the September 29, 1998, order of the circuit court granting summary disposition in favor of defendants Lifeways, Segue, Inc., Larry Douglas, and Judith Zarend pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10), based on the absence of any duty owed by defendants to the decedent in this wrongful death action. Although they prevailed in the underlying action, defendants Lifeways and Douglas, in Docket No. 220214, cross appeal and challenge an earlier order entered by the circuit court on May 12, 1998, denying their motion for summary disposition pleading governmental immunity pursuant to MCL 691.1407(2). This Court consolidated the respective appeals, and we affirm.
I.
On the night of December 11, 1994, Tamara Welch (decedent) was murdered. An individual by the name of Mark Chesley was arrested and charged with the crime, having led police to the body. However, Chesley was subsequently determined to be incompetent to stand trial; thus, no conviction was ever obtained for the murder. Defendants Lifeways and Segue, Inc. (Segue), had provided mental health services to both decedent and Chesley before decedent's death.
Decedent, who suffered from schizophrenia, was placed in defendant Segue's care for several months in 1992 pursuant to an involuntary treatment order issued by the Jackson Probate Court. After the involuntary treatment order expired in November 1993, decedent requested to live independently in her own apartment, outside of Segue's adult foster care system. As her mental condition improved, her psychiatrist approved the move to independent living in January 1994. The evidence indicates that when decedent moved into her own apartment in 1994 she was mentally stable and functioning very well. Her father, plaintiff herein, admitted at his deposition that during this period decedent was functioning "like a normal person," i.e., "taking care of herself" and "becoming very responsible." Decedent even worked on a part-time basis and walked to and from work in the city of Jackson without assistance from any of the defendants. Decedent received social security benefits, which went to Segue as the payee; Segue in turn paid her rent from the proceeds. Decedent helped to cut her costs by sharing rent with one or more roommates. Those roommates changed over time, but included, at various times, her alleged assailant, Mark Chesley, and two boyfriends. Since their presence allegedly violated the specific terms of her lease and jeopardized her social security payments, Segue advised decedent in writing to have the men move out. However, she did not comply with the request.
Decedent was interviewed weekly by Segue employees during her stay in her apartment, to monitor her continued compliance with her psychotropic medication requirements. The record indicates that she never once mentioned any physical difficulties that she may have been having with any of her roommates. Some of the roommates were reported to have been somewhat of a nuisance to her because of their predilection for staying up late and watching television at all hours; however, decedent never made any complaints about physical threats or assaults by her roommates, including Mark Chesley.
Mark Chesley, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, was involuntarily committed to the Ypsilanti Regional Psychiatric Hospital by the Jackson Probate Court for sixty days in early 1992. The probate court later involuntarily transferred Mark Chesley into the Segue program for a thirty-day per
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