42 USC § 1983; Substantive due process; Fourteenth Amendment; State-created danger; DeShaney v Winnebago Cnty Dep’t of Soc Servs; Noncustodial suicide; Wilson v Gregory; Affirmative act; Deliberate indifference; Qualified immunity; Conspiracy to violate constitutional rights; Monell v Department of Soc Servs; Municipal liability; Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED); Michigan governmental immunity; Odom v Wayne Cnty

[This appeal was from the ED-MI.] The court held that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity on plaintiff’s state-created-danger claim and to Michigan governmental immunity on the IIED claim. Fourteen-year-old JPZ was suspended after a school-bus altercation, questioned by a school resource officer and told about a purported “Three Strike” law, became visibly distraught, and later died by suicide at home. His father sued the school district, principal, school resource officer, and Macomb County. The district court denied defendants’ motions to dismiss most claims on immunity grounds. On appeal, the court held that the state-created-danger claim failed because plaintiff did not allege an affirmative act that made JPZ more likely to be exposed to “private acts of violence by a third party.” It explained that the Sixth Circuit has “‘not . . . extended the state-created-danger exception to . . . instances of suicide by someone not in official custody,’” and that suicide is not “a harm inflicted by a third party.” The court also held that plaintiff failed to allege deliberate indifference because neither the principal nor the officer knew JPZ was at substantial risk of suicide, and knowledge of his ADHD diagnosis alone did not show a specific suicide risk. The court further held that the conspiracy and Monell claims failed because there was no underlying constitutional violation. Finally, the court held that the principal and officer were entitled to governmental immunity on the intentional-tort claim because the allegations showed, at most, that they used scared-straight tactics and seclusion to correct future school behavior, not that they acted with malice or callous disregard for JPZ’s safety. Reversed and remanded.