Jacobs v. Department of Mental Health

Plaintiff sued the Department of Mental Health, under a theory of vicarious liability, for damages sustained from an alleged assault and battery against the plaintiff by an attendant at a state mental facility. The Court of Claims granted summary judgment for defendant. The plaintiff was an in-patient at the facility when the alleged beating occurred. In his deposition the attendant testified that the incident of which the plaintiff complains was provoked by the plaintiff’s repeated violations of the hospital’s rules against smoking, his refusal to leave his room with other patients for…