Marcavage v. Bd Trustees TempleMarcavage v. Bd Trustees Temple
Lead Opinion
OPINION
The main issue in this case is whether the District Judge should have disqualified herself pursuant to
I.
Because we write primarily for the parties, we omit a discussion of facts not relevant to our disposition. This case arises out of a series of unfortunate incidents involving Plaintiff/Appellant Michael Marcavage, then a Dean’s List student at Temple University, and high-ranking Temple officials. During the Fall 1999 semester, Marcavage learned of an upcoming campus-sponsored play that planned on depicting Jesus Christ and his disciples as gay. This production offended Marcavage. In late October and early November 1999, Marcavage began meeting with the University’s Vice President of Operations, William Bergman, and Director of Campus Safety, Carl Bittenbender, to see if he could arrange logistics for a protest event that he was organizing. This alternative event, scheduled to occur in early November, would portray Jesus in a different light than the event that depicted him and his disciples as gay.
The meeting that formed the basis for this lawsuit occurred on November 2,1999. Marcavage, Bergman, and Bittenbender met in Bergman’s office to discuss the logistics of Marcavage’s play. Immediately prior to this meeting, Marcavage met with a secretary at the Board of Trustees’ office. While the parties disagree as to what happened between Marcavage and the secretary, the secretary pressed the panic button to summon campus police because she believed Marcavage was making a commotion in the office. Bergman responded personally, and took Marcavage to his office. In the office, Bergman told Marcavage that the University would not provide a stage for his event. The interpretations of Marcavage’s actions in the office differ significantly between Bergman and Bittenbender on one hand and Marcavage on the other.
According to Bittenbender, during this meeting Marcavage began to cry and then sob, shake, and otherwise behave erratical
Marcavage’s version of events differs greatly. He testified that, after the officials told him that the stage would not be provided, tears welled up in his eyes and he excused himself to go into a nearby restroom to pray. According to Marcavage, he locked the door and, “within moments,” heard someone yelling for him to come out.
After these events, Dr. Denise Walton of the University’s counseling center arrived. She found Marcavage to be very confused and in a great deal of crisis and distress. Dr. Walton testified that “the most humane thing was for [Marcavage] to have an evaluation” because she saw him sobbing, his body occasionally jerked, he looked confused, and “at times it didn’t even look like he understood that [she] was there or he didn’t even understand what [she] was saying.” Bittenbender then ordered Marcavage to be evaluated for his own protection pursuant to Pennsylvania’s MHPA. Marcavage was transported by campus police to the Temple University Hospital. Bittenbender then filled out the paperwork for the “302 Application” for Marcavage’s involuntary examination. See
Marcavage then filed a civil rights action pursuant to
II.
The defendants objected to the plaintiff’s recusal motion, and suggested that, aside from the stated recusal reasons, Marcavage’s argument “suggests a more darker and sinister belief as the true basis for his recusal motion.” The defendants asserted that, according to the plaintiffs argument:
Her Honor would have to recuse herself every time a Barristers’ Association member represented a party. Plaintiffs counsel surely does not suggest that every time a Catholic lawyer appears in front of a Catholic judge that the judge should recuse himself because they too are members of the same religion. This thinking is improper, ludicrous and, worse off, dangerous.
Referring to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Local Union 542,
The District Judge denied Marcavage’s disqualification motion. Marcavage filed a mandamus petition, which was summarily denied by this Court. The disqualification review that we now conduct focuses on two different sets of facts. The first set relates to the District Judge’s activities that led Marcavage to seek disqualification. The second set is contained in the District Judge’s statements discussing her denial of Marcavage’s recusal motion. “Where a motion for disqualification was made in the District Court, we review the denial of such a motion for abuse of discretion.” Selkridge v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co.,
The District Judge did not abuse her discretion by not recusing herself because of her connections with the Barrister’s Association, Temple University, or the lead defense counsel. “[WJhether to recuse from hearing a matter lies within the sound discretion of the trial judge.” United States v. Wilensky,
The District Judge was not required to recuse herself under
Marcavage argues, in contrast, that his recusal motion was not racially motivated. In Marcavage’s view, he expressed a legitimate concern that the District Judge had a sufficiently close relationship with the lead defense counsel that her impartiality could be reasonably questioned. Marcavage contends that the purpose of the Barristers’ Association is almost inconsequential. Marcavage’s point is that the lead defense counsel was president of an organization that presented the District Judge with an award during the pendency of the case and stated that she “gives both her time and her ear to [the organization’s] members.”
With this background in mind, we do not decide whether the District Court’s September 30, 2002 Memorandum and Order denying the Plaintiffs Motion for Recusal created a situation where her impartiality could be reasonably questioned because harmless error applies. The Supreme Court has stated that “[t]here need not be a draconian remedy for every violation of
With respect to “the risk of injustice to the parties in the particular case,” the able District Judge’s trial rulings were all correct. After a careful review of the voluminous record, we have found no prejudice suffered by Marcavage as a result of these rulings. See Martin v. Monumental Life Ins. Co.,
The second factor of the Liljeberg test is “the risk that the denial of relief will produce injustice in other cases.” We can envision no future injustice as a consequence of this ruling, because there were no mistakes in the District Judge’s actual trial rulings. Opening up a jury verdict would be an unnecessary and grossly inefficient remedy.
The analysis of the third factor, “the risk of undermining the public’s confidence in the judicial process,” also weighs in favor of finding the District Judge’s disqualification error harmless. As we have already stated, her trial decisions were all proper. Further, ordering a new trial with a new judge risks harming the public’s confidence in the judicial process. See United States v. Cerceda,
The next issue is whether Dr. llene Rosenstein should have been allowed to testify as to the reasonableness of Bittenbender’s actions with respect to the MHPA. We review a district court’s decision to admit expert testimony under the abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Davis,
Section 301 of the MHPA provides for the involuntary emergency examination and treatment of severely mentally disabled individuals in need of immediate treatment.
We address the propriety of Dr. Rosenstein’s testimony. With respect to Dr. Rosenstein’s qualifications, she is the Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Counseling and Psychological Services. She received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from the American University, and a B.A in Psychology and Sociology from Ithaca College. She has been actively involved in college counseling since the early 1980s. According to her testimony, she has vast experience with § 302 examinations. Dr. Rosenstein testified that, during the academic year, Counseling and Psychological Services saw several cases a month that implicated the MHPA. She also ran seminars on emergency response and crisis intervention. Dr. Rosenstein has guest lectured on voluntary and involuntary exams and treatment. Her research focuses in part on university students with mental disorders. Dr. Rosenstein was also previously a psychiatric intake worker in a hospital setting.
Q: Would it have been appropriate based upon what you have heard for Mr. Bittenbender and Mr. Bergman to let Mr. Marcavage leave that room in his state?
A: Absolutely not. First of all, I don’t know how he could leave the room. He could hardly walk according to their testimony. And on top of that, even if he could, this was somebody who was in their mind, that’s the important piece, in their perception as irrational, not in control of self, showing poor judgment, and really had a kind of demeanor and wasn’t able to discern reality.
This type of testimony is admissible to aid the jury in deciding the reasonableness of Bittenbender’s actions. Dr. Rosenstein’s testimony also assisted the trier of fact in determining whether Bittenbender’s actions were grossly negligent or willful. She was able to discuss these issues as an expert under the MHPA, and could therefore give her considered opinion as to Bittenbender’s perception of Marcavage’s psychological status.
III.
For these reasons, we will affirm the orders of the District Court.
Notes
. The District Court exercised jurisdiction under
. We use the terms "recusal" and "disqualification" interchangeably, consistent with the way the parties and the District Court used them. See In re Sch. Asbestos Litig.,
. The famous and eloquent opinion in Local Union 542 was authored by then-District Judge Leon Higginbotham. In it, he rejects a recusal motion in a civil rights suit. The groundless motion raised his leadership in the civil rights movement as a basis for disqualification.
. According to its website, "the Barristers’ Association’s purpose, then and now, has been to address the professional needs and development of African American lawyers in the City of Philadelphia and surrounding counties through programs such as seminars, cultural events, and publications.” See http:// www.phillybarristers.org/ index.html.
. There are statements made by Dr. Rosenstein on cross-examination that might be construed as vouching for Bittenbender and Bergman's testimony. However, these statements must be viewed against the backdrop of Dr. Rosenstein’s entire testimony, where she repeatedly states that she was not present at the November 2, 1999 meeting and based her psychological opinion on depositions and testimony of other witnesses. Even if we were to conclude that the admission of Dr. Rosenstein’s testimony was erroneous—which we do not—we would deem the error harmless because of the testimony of other witnesses who easily support the conclusion that Marcavage’s involuntary examination was reasonable under the MHPA. See Betterbox Communications Ltd. v. BB Techs., Inc.,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring:
Although I concur in Judge Smith’s opinion, I write separately with respect to one issue.
Marcavage argues that it was reversible error for the District Court to allow defendants’ expert, Dr. llene Rosenstein, to testify on the ultimate issue of reasonableness under the MHPA, first, declaring that Bittenbender’s application contained no false information (a fact that was strenuously disputed by the plaintiff at trial) and, second, declaring that, on the facts presented by Bittenbender, he acted reasonably when seeking the involuntary emergency examination of Marcavage.
Q. If I’m following, you have testified that the descriptive narrative that Mr. Bittenbender signed here under oath was sufficient to meet the requirements of the Mental Health Procedures Act, correct?
A. Let me say two parts to that. One is that it doesn’t matter if it was sufficient or not. This was his statement of what he perceived was going on. And in my mind—so that is one piece. Because there are many people who fill out—who— quite frankly, oftentimes it’s rejected even when it’s filled out by the mental health worker. So there was enough in here that it was approved, even though it didn’t need the approval in my mind.
The second part, as a psychologist reading—as someone who does this all the time, it was sufficient stuff here to be of concern.
Q. When you say approved, you are referring to a mental health advocate?
A. Yes, I am.
Q. Now, the mental health advocate relies on the recommendations of the people making—
A. Correct.
Q. So if he is not telling the truth and they say—How significant is it that they approve an application that contains blatant false information?
A. I don’t believe these have false information.
Q. I’m not asking that. How significant with the mental health advocate is it if it contains blatant falsehoods, is that significant then?
A Is it significant? Yes, it’s a problem.
(Trial Day 5 at 191-92, emphasis added). When further pressed, her testimony was as follows:
Q. Doctor, is it fair to say based on answers such as that one that you really don’t allow for much possibility that there is another version of what happened that day that could have occurred, do you?
A. I believe what I said in this report, which is that, in fact, they did the exact thing I would want them to do. It was the right thing to do.
Q. But that all depends on your conclusion, Doctor—and you’re not the finder of facts—that Mr. Mareavage was in fact irrational, was in fact*88 mute; that there were legitimate reasons to be concerned?
A. His behavior as observed by Mr. Bittenbender clearly indicated to Mr. Bittenbender that this was a young man in crisis. This was beyond just slight agitation or annoyance. This was up to a point of serious mental illness. And because of that, he went ahead with the procedure.
Q. Doctor, can you assume that the actions of Defendant Bittenbender and Defendant Bergman in processing this application was not motivated by concern for his safety?
A. Why, no.
Q. You can’t, can you?
A. I can’t understand—from reading everything, I could not understand why—It seemed to me these were people that really, really eared and wanted to do a good job, I think, at their university, and cared about safety. They are both policemen.
Q. It was a simply yes or no. I’m just thinking to limit—so really you can’t consider any alternate, can you?
A. I did consider the alternate. In the beginning when I went through all the stuff, I went with an open mind reading the stuff. Mr. Tucker knows clearly I don’t do this as a profession. I’m not an expert witness. I have another full-time job and a family. So going through this stuff, I didn’t know which way I was going to go. My conclusion was absolutely that this was the right thing to do.
(Trial Day 5 at 199-201, emphasis added).
In my view, the District Judge abused her discretion by allowing Dr. Rosenstein to testify as an expert and to wander into the province of the jury by testifying as to whose facts she believed.
That having been said, I would not conclude, in light of the record as a whole, that this was reversible error. There clearly was enough testimony from which the jury could have independently decided that Bittenbender’s actions were reasonable and in compliance with the MHPA. In other words, although I believe it was error to allow Dr. Rosenstein to testify as to anything but the procedures relating to the MHPA, I also conclude that it was harmless error because the result would have been the same with or without her testimony.
I concur in the result.
. Marcavage argues that this error was exacerbated when the District Court refused to allow him to cross-examine Dr. Rosenstein regarding the medical reports of Drs. Villaluz and King, who examined Marcavage at the hospital and whose reports Dr. Rosenstein
. Dr. Rosenstein listened to the testimony of several witnesses at trial, including that of Bittenbender, but not that of Mareavage. She was ill when Mareavage testified (see Trial Day 5 at 174); however, she did read his deposition testimony (see, Trial Day 5 at 195).