Lorraine Gormley v. Latanya Wood-El (069717)

Plaintiff, Lorraine Gormley, a Public Defender lawyer for involuntarily committed psychiatric patients, was attacked by a client, B.R., in a community “day room” in Ancora Psychiatric Hospital while meeting the newly committed woman for the first time. The unprovoked attack caused plaintiff serious injuries. Although plaintiff sought relief on a number of theories, in this appeal we consider her claim against State Department of Human Services officials and Ancora’s past and present administrators based on the theory that those defendants violated her substantive due process right to be free…