Filed: Aug. 16, 2011
Latest Update: Feb. 22, 2020
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION AUG 16 2011 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MYA M TRACY, a single person; M T, a No. 10-36107 minor, by and through his mother, Mya M. Tracy, D.C. No. 3:09-cv-05588-RJB Plaintiffs - Appellants, MEMORANDUM * v. JENNIFER KNIGHT; JOHN DOE KNIGHT; MULTICARE HEALTH SYSTEMS, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Robert J. Bryan, Senior D
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION AUG 16 2011 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MYA M TRACY, a single person; M T, a No. 10-36107 minor, by and through his mother, Mya M. Tracy, D.C. No. 3:09-cv-05588-RJB Plaintiffs - Appellants, MEMORANDUM * v. JENNIFER KNIGHT; JOHN DOE KNIGHT; MULTICARE HEALTH SYSTEMS, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Robert J. Bryan, Senior Di..
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FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION AUG 16 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MYA M TRACY, a single person; M T, a No. 10-36107
minor, by and through his mother, Mya M.
Tracy, D.C. No. 3:09-cv-05588-RJB
Plaintiffs - Appellants,
MEMORANDUM *
v.
JENNIFER KNIGHT; JOHN DOE
KNIGHT; MULTICARE HEALTH
SYSTEMS,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Washington
Robert J. Bryan, Senior District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted August 2, 2011
Seattle, Washington
Before: SCHROEDER and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and FOGEL, District
Judge.**
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The Honorable Jeremy D. Fogel, District Judge for the United States
District Court for the Northern District of California, sitting by designation.
Mya Tracy, as an individual and on behalf of her minor child, M.T.
(collectively the Tracys), appeals the district court’s order granting summary
judgment to defendants MultiCare Health System (MultiCare) and its former
employee, Jennifer Knight. The Tracys sued Knight and MultiCare for violations
of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Washington state tort of outrage, after Knight
allegedly excluded Mya from M.T.’s medical examination.
The parties do not dispute that R.C.W. 4.16.080 provides the three-year
statute of limitations governing Mya’s claim arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The
same statute of limitations also governs Mya’s state law claim. See Milligan v.
Thompson,
953 P.2d 112, 115 (Wash. Ct. App. 1998). Because Mya filed suit
more than three years after her claims arose, and tolling does not apply, the district
court properly granted summary judgment as to Mya.
Summary judgment was also appropriate with respect to M.T.’s § 1983
claim because even if the panel assumes that defendants were state actors they
were entitled to qualified immunity since they did not violate a clearly-established
federal right. See Pearson v. Callahan,
555 U.S. 223, 231-32 (2009). We have
recognized that a child’s right to have a parent present during a medical
examination is not absolute, and a parent may be asked to wait nearby if there is a
valid reason for excluding them. M.T. did not have the absolute right to have Mya
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present in the examination room when Mya consented to the exam, hospital
employees were concerned that Mya would interfere with the investigation, and
Mya was allowed to wait in a nearby waiting room. Wallis v. Spencer,
202 F.3d
1126, 1142 (9th Cir. 2000). There is no allegation that the examination itself was
improperly conducted.
The state law claim of outrageous conduct is also without merit. The record
shows that the exclusion of the mother from the examination was not unreasonable,
much less outrageous. See Birklid v. Boeing Co.,
904 P.2d 278, 286 (Wash. 1995).
Appellees’ request for sanctions is denied.
AFFIRMED.
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