On November 10, 2005, Vincent A. Nagler won a defense verdict in favor of a Suffolk County psychiatrist in a federal jury trial in Central Islip, NY. Our client, a private psychiatrist working within the State's emergency commitment mental hygeine laws, involuntarily committed the plaintiff, a 45 year old homemaker, after she appeared at her childrens' elementary school disoriented, cursing loudly and proclaiming (falsely, it turned out) that she had just killed her husband. The plaintiff, who was represented by a mental health clinic affiliated with an area law school, sued our client and another psychiatrist involved in the commitment procedure claiming federal civil rights violations pursuant to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiff contended that she was not in need of in-patient psychiatric treatment and was merely suffering from a flare up of her long standing Lyme's disease---a flare up that had resolved by the time she was committed against her will. Following a two week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the jury returned a verdict in favor of both defendants, fully vindicating the doctors and clearly accepting our claim that at the time of the commitment, the plaintiff was suffering from mania due to bi-polar affective disorder and was a danger to herself and others.

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