Danny Atterbury v. Katie Cooper

MEMORANDUM

Danny Atterbury was involuntarily committed at Napa State Hospital (“NSH”) after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, to attempted murder. Atterbury filed a complaint against Appellees, staff of NSH, alleging that they did not protect him from being physically attacked and that they incited and encouraged other patients to develop animosity towards him, violating his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. The district court granted Appellees’ motion for summary judgment. Atterbury appeals, and we affirm.

On review of a motion for summary judgment, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Waggy v. Spokane Cnty., 594 F.3d 707, 710 (9th Cir.2010). But even viewing the evidence in this light, Atterbury has not put any evidence on the record that presents a genuine dispute as to any material fact showing that the staff at NSH failed to use their professional judgment. Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307, 321-23 , 102 S.Ct. 2452 , 73 L.Ed.2d 28 (1982).

Atterbury’s claims are based on (1) his transfer from Ward T-4 to Ward T-7, (2) an incident when he was punched in the face by another patient, and (3) an incident where he asserts that…