James Roy Schlette, by Wanda Roe, Conservator of His Person v. James Burdick

James Schlette, a disabled person under a state court conservatorship, appeals from the district court’s summary judgment in favor of four public officers, who, as conservators, caused or permitted his involuntary confinement at Sonoma State Hospital.

Schlette originally brought this damages action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against twenty-six individuals employed by Marin County and Sonoma State Hospital. He sued the conservators, conservatorship investigators, public defenders, hospital officials, physicians and psychiatric technicians. He alleged, inter alia, that the defendants illegally had confined him in a mental institution, refused him a hearing on the legality of his confinement, failed to provide him with adequate medical and dental care, subjected him to beating and other physical abuse, withheld his mail, and restricted his visits with his father for no legitimate medical purpose.

The district court dismissed the action as to the public defenders and that order is not challenged on appeal. The action against certain state employees was settled and those defendants likewise are not before us. The question presented, therefore, is the propriety of the summary judgment in…