County Hospital Immune from Liability for One Patient's Sexual Assault upon Another

In Johnson v. Alameda County Medical Center, published April 25, 2012, the First District Court of Appeal, Division 4, upheld summary judgment for Alameda County in a case where a patient on a 72-hour psychiatric hold alleged that negligence by the facility and its employees contributed to another patient's sexual assault upon her.  The plaintiff alleged the other patient was able to gain access to her room because the lock on her door was defective and failed to latch.  Although statutes and regulations entitle psychiatric patients to be "free from harm" and the premises of psychiatric hospitals to be in good repair, no regulation requires locks on hospital doors.  Instead, regulations prescribe that locks on doors are optional.  The appellate court therefore upheld the defendants' immunity from liability under Government Code section 845.8, which generally immunizes public entities from liability for injuries to or from inpatients at mental institutions.  The statute does not immunize public employees from their own negligence; but the plaintiff failed to present any evidence that any employee's negligence contributed to the assault.  And although Government Code section 855(a) creates an exception to immunity for injury caused by insufficient personnel, equipment or facilities required by statute or regulation, no specific regulation required a working lock on the door.  The general statutory and regulatory duties that applied to the hospital did not impose requirements specific enough to create a minimum requirement under section 855.