Wyoming Supreme Court Allows Negligence Suit Against State Hospital to Proceed After Patient's Sexual Assault

In June 2016, a woman identified in court records as Justina Case was involuntarily committed to Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston. Because of her condition, the hospital placed her on what staff called Silent Constant Observation, a protocol requiring a designated employee to monitor her continuously, including during showers and other private moments.

Starting in July 2016, a certified nursing assistant named Christopher King was repeatedly assigned as her one-to-one observer. King used the access that role provided to sexually assault her on numerous occasions over the following months, including in a shower room not covered by security cameras. Case reported the abuse to hospital staff in November 2016. King was placed on administrative leave, law enforcement was notified, and he was eventually charged. He entered a no-contest plea to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to jail time.

Case's parents, Mary and Donald Romine, serving as her court-appointed guardians and conservators, filed a civil negligence suit against Wyoming State Hospital and the State of Wyoming. The hospital moved for summary judgment, arguing the family's claims were barred by governmental immunity. Specifically, the state contended that the statutory waiver of immunity under Wyoming's Governmental Claims Act, section 1-39-110, applied only to medical malpractice and not to ordinary negligence arising from a hospital's supervision of its employees.

The district court denied the motion, and the state appealed. Jim Fitzgerald and Michael Fitzgerald of The Fitzgerald Law Firm, Cheyenne, represented the Romines before the Wyoming Supreme Court. Michael Fitzgerald argued the case. The central question on appeal was whether section 1-39-110 opened the courthouse door only to malpractice claims or extended more broadly to negligence by healthcare providers acting within the scope of their employment.

On March 25, 2021, the Wyoming Supreme Court issued its ruling in Wyoming State Hospital v. Romine, 2021 WY 44. The court affirmed the district court's denial of summary judgment, holding that the immunity waiver in section 1-39-110 is not confined to medical malpractice claims. It also dismissed portions of the state's appeal for lack of jurisdiction, including arguments about damages caps and proximate cause, leaving those issues for the district court on remand. The ruling allowed the Romines' negligence claims on behalf of Justina Case to move forward.