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Johnson v. City of Detroit6/16/1998
BEFORE THE ENTIRE BENCH
We granted leave to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming summary Disposition for the defendants on governmental immunity grounds. Plaintiff's decedent hanged himself on overhead bars in a police station holding cell that were exposed because wire mesh that had been placed over them to help prevent suicides had been torn away. This case presents the question whether the torn mesh constitutes a building defect within the meaning of the public building exception to the governmental tort liability act, MCL 691.1406; MSA 3.996(106). This Court has previously concluded that exposed overhead bars in a general holding cell were not a building defect, Jackson v Detroit, 449 Mich 420; 537 NW2d 151 (1995). This Court has also previously held that a claim could proceed under the public building exception where a cell at the Wayne County jail, specifically designated for individuals with mental conditions, was allegedly defective because it did not contain adequate safety measures, such as adequately padded walls. Lockaby v Wayne Co, 406 Mich 65; 276 NW2d 1 (1979).
The plaintiff argues that the city's installation of mesh rendered these cells as cells designed to prevent suicide and that the torn mesh constituted a building defect in this particular suicide-resistant cell. I agree. Consequently, I would reverse that portion of the Court of Appeals decision upholding summary Disposition for the defendants on governmental immunity grounds. Nevertheless, I would find that defendants were entitled to summary Disposition on the underlying negligence claim. Because the plaintiff could not establish that the suicide was foreseeable, she could not establish that the defendants owed a duty to prevent the suicide. Consequently, I would affirm summary Disposition for the defendants on this basis.
I. Facts and Proceedings
Decedent, James Johnson, was a city of Detroit employee. On the afternoon of December 29, 1991, a Detroit police sergeant, on his way to work at the third precinct, saw Johnson pass a portable electric generator through an opening in a fence surrounding the Detroit Department of Public Works yard. The sergeant, after returning from the precinct with assistance, followed tracks made by a cart Johnson had used to transport the generator. The officers arrested Johnson and took him to the third precinct station.
Officer Ralph Heatlie, the individual defendant in this case, processed Johnson before placing him in a holding cell in the felony cellblock used for temporary detention of felony prisoners awaiting arraignment. Because Johnson was cooperative, Heatlie rewarded him by placing him in a cell containing a toilet. He first took the standard precautions of removing Johnson's hat, gloves, belt, wallet, lighter, and shoelaces. Tragically, however, Johnson managed to kill himself by tying one sleeve of his sweatshirt to an overhead horizontal bar in his cell and the other around his neck. Officer Heatlie discovered Johnson after hearing shouting and banging noises from the cellblock area, made by other prisoners in cells across from Johnson's. It took Heatlie a "short period. Maybe a couple minutes" to return to the area because he had to secure a prisoner that he was working with at the time.
Efforts had been made at this precinct to prevent hangings by welding wire mesh approximately one and one-half inches below the overhead bars that formed the ceiling. However, in this particular cell, the mesh was torn away. While officials were apparently aware of the torn mesh, they had not yet repaired it. Precinct commander Leamon Wilson had requested repairs, on an emergency basis, in a memo to the Depu
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