Facts
- Federal agents arrested Steven Moravek for counterfeiting and charged him in federal court.
- Shortly after his arrest, Moravek met for psychotherapy with Dr. Carol Denier at a federally operated Veterans Affairs hospital (VA hospital).
- During the session, Moravek communicated suicidal thoughts and said he wanted to kill people involved in his arrest.
- At the time of the therapy session, Moravek was scheduled to be arraigned about a week later.
- Denier relayed the threats to the VA hospital’s lawyer.
- The VA hospital’s lawyer contacted the United States Attorney’s Office and conveyed Moravek’s threatening statements.
- After learning of the threats, the criminal court ordered Moravek held pending trial and directed that he undergo a psychiatric examination.
- Moravek ultimately pleaded guilty to the counterfeiting charge.
- Moravek then sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), alleging multiple privacy-related torts under South Carolina law, including breach of confidentiality, based on the disclosure of his psychotherapy communications.
- The United States (through the VA hospital) moved for summary judgment.
Issues
- Under the FTCA and South Carolina law, can the United States be held liable for privacy-based torts (including breach of confidentiality) when a VA psychotherapist reports a patient’s suicidal and homicidal threats to the VA hospital’s lawyer, who then informs the United States Attorney’s Office?
- Does South Carolina law recognize limits on psychotherapist confidentiality that allow disclosure of patient threats of serious harm to self or others, such that the disclosures in this case are not actionable?
- On the summary-judgment record, did Moravek present a triable issue that the VA hospital’s disclosure was wrongful for purposes of South Carolina privacy torts incorporated through the FTCA?
Decision
- The court applied South Carolina law because the alleged tortious conduct occurred in South Carolina.
- The court granted the United States’ motion for summary judgment.
- The court rejected Moravek’s FTCA claims premised on the disclosure of his psychotherapy communications, concluding that the disclosure of suicidal and violent threats to government counsel and prosecutors was not actionable under the governing state-law standards in this setting.
Legal Principles
- Under the FTCA, the United States is liable only to the extent a private person would be liable under the law of the state where the act or omission occurred.
- South Carolina tort law governs state-law privacy and confidentiality theories asserted through the FTCA when the relevant events take place in South Carolina.
- Psychotherapist confidentiality is not absolute; it may yield when a patient communicates threats of serious harm to self or others and disclosure is made to address the danger.
- On summary judgment, a plaintiff must produce evidence supporting each element of the asserted state-law torts; where the record shows disclosure tied to serious threats and communicated through official channels connected to public safety and court proceedings, the plaintiff cannot proceed on privacy-based tort theories.
Conclusion
In Moravek v. United States, the district court held that Moravek’s FTCA claims for breach of confidentiality and related privacy torts could not survive summary judgment where a VA psychotherapist reported Moravek’s suicidal and homicidal threats to the VA hospital’s lawyer and the information was then provided to the United States Attorney’s Office, leading to court-ordered detention and evaluation in the pending criminal case.