Facts

The plaintiff minors were removed from their school by county Child Protective Services (CPS) social workers and law enforcement, without parental knowledge or consent, without a court order and plaintiffs alleged without imminent danger of serious bodily injury, despite a call received by the County Hotline from a mandated reporter and subsequent interviews with the minor daughter, which the county employees asserted was suspicious of child abuse.

The minors were taken to a county facility where they both were interrogated and the minor daughter was subjected to a physical examination without the knowledge, consent, or presence of either parent. The examination could neither confirm nor negate child sexual abuse.

At the same time, county law enforcement "froze" the parents out of their home and five hours later, obtained a search warrant to search their home.

The minors continued to be detained for 18 days from their parents who were only allowed occasional supervision of one to two hour per visit.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs contended that the county and its social workers and law enforcement officers violated clear and established law requiring that children cannot be removed or detained without a warrant to remove them unless there is a reasonable belief that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury and that the scope of that intrusion is reasonably necessary to avert that specific injury (Wallis v. Spencer).

Furthermore, plaintiffs contended that the physical examination of the minor daughter was in violation of established law requiring that in the absence of parental consent, a physical examination of a minor child may not occur unless a judicial officer determines that grounds for such an examination exists and that the procedure used is reasonable under the circumstances; and that if an examination is to be performed that the child's parent(s) have the right to be present during said examination.

Plaintiffs also asserted that freezing them from their home was not justified and that the search warrant obtained for that search was misleading and failed to include exculpatory evidence, which negated the allegations of child abuse.

Plaintiffs also contended that county's policies and customs were a violation of their constitutional rights under 42 USC 1983 and Monell; and that the county failed to properly train its employees as to the requirements of established law on the removal, interrogation, examination and continued detention of minor children.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that the law on removal and examination of children in juvenile dependency investigations was ambiguous and not clear. Further, defendants contended that reasonable cause existed for the child protective services and sheriffs department personnel to take the actions that they did in this case. Defendants further contended that the children were in imminent danger of serious bodily injury, which justified the removal and examination without a warrant. In addition, defendants contended that they obtained proper consent from the County's social worker to undergo the examination, pursuant to California law. Finally, some defendants contended that they were immune from suit under Penal Code section 11172 and were not state actors.

Settlement Discussions

No settlement discussions held until after dispositive (partially or full) motions were filed (by plaintiffs for summary adjudication and by defendants for partial and full summary judgment) and only after Ninth Circuit decision in Greene v. Camreta was rendered confirming prior Ninth Circuit decisional law in Wallis v. Spencer as being clear and unambiguous; at which time the defendants requested mediation. Plaintiffs' demand at mediation was $2,000,000.

Damages

The plaintiffs claimed civil rights and Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment constitutional violations. The parents incurred in excess of $38,000 in attorneys fees, as well as over $9,698 in counseling and psychological evaluation and treatment. Their greatest damage was the threat of losing their family and the stigma of an allegation (unfounded) of committing child abuse on their children.

Result

The case settled at mediation for $775,000 (including section 1988 attorneys fees) and an agreement by the county to modify its policies and train its employees to conform with Wallis v. Spencer on the removal, interrogation, examination and continued detention of minor children in juvenile dependency investigations and proceedings. All defendants other than the County were dismissed with prejudice for a waiver of costs and malicious prosecution rights.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Nov. 7, 2008.