On August 29, 2014 Ada County and the Ada County Coroner filed a complaint in the Fourth Judicial District of Idaho. They sued Disability Rights Idaho (“DRI”) under Idaho Code § 10-1201 et seq., (Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act), and Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure 57. At the request of the defendant, Disability Rights Idaho, Inc. (DRI), the case was removed to the United States District Court for the District of Idaho on September 8, 2014. On September 18, 2014 DRI filed a counterclaim under the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act (PAIMI), 42 U.S.C. § 10801 et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. DRI sought injunctive and declaratory relief to challenge the refusal of the Coroner to provide timely access to the records sought. Ada County filed a motion to remand the case, but the motion was denied by Judge Edward J. Lodge on April 29, 2015. 2015 WL 1944003.

Disability Rights Idaho (DRI) is a non-profit corporation that has been designated by Idaho to protect and advocate on behalf of people with mental illness, as defined in the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act of 1986, 42 U.S.C. § 10801 et. seq. (“PAIMI”). (PAIMI is a federal mandate that gives authority to investigate complaints of abuse, neglect, due process and rights violations in public and private facilities that provide overnight mental health treatment.) The dispute arose when the Ada County Coroner refused to provide its investigatory records relating to a suicide death of an individual, who had been residing in an inpatient behavioral health unit of an Ada County hospital. The Coroner denied DRI’s request for non-public records and initiated this declaratory judgment action in State court in response to DRI’s letter that stated they would initiate a federal lawsuit if necessary. DRI submitted an answer to the Coroner’s complaint and a counterclaim.

On June 15, 2015 both parties submitted Motions for Summary Judgment. In addition, DRI submitted a Motion to Dismiss and a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. The Ada County Coroner argued that regardless of PAIMI, DRI did not have the right to access the Coroner’s records of its death investigation, because the Coroner was not an “agency” as defined by PAIMI. The Coroner had also cited federal and state privacy concerns and questioned DRI’s probable cause to investigate the death. On July 20, 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a statement of interest stating that federal law was clear that P&A’s had broad access to investigatory records relating to mental health treatment facilities. The DOJ also stated that the Coroner’s office was an “agency charged with investigating,” as stated in PAIMI, because it was a division of the Ada County government that was responsible for investigating deaths.

On March 7, 2016, Judge Edward J. Lodge entered a judgment in favor of DRI. The court held that the Coroner was an “agency charged with investigating” reports of incidents of abuse, neglect, and injury under PAIMI and that the Coroner needed to release the records to DRI. 168 F.Supp.3d 1282. The case is now closed.

Mary Kate Sickel - 10/08/2017


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