Opinion ID: 70464
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Entry of Wernecke Home and Search for KW

Text: 8 No. 09-40132 Garcia contends that the district court erred in denying her qualified immunity for her entry into the Wernecke home and her search for KW. Under the Supreme Court’s qualified immunity jurisprudence, we first ask if the Werneckes have asserted a violation of a constitutional right. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and “it is well established in this circuit that the Fourth Amendment regulates social workers’ civil investigations.” Gates v. Tex. Dep’t of Protective & Regulatory Servs., 537 F.3d 404, 420 (5th Cir. 2008). “In assessing the reasonableness of a search . . . , we must balance ‘the nature and quality of the intrusion on the individual’s Fourth Amendment interests against the importance of the governmental interests alleged to justify the intrusion.’” Wooley v. City of Baton Rouge, 211 F.3d 913, 925 (5th Cir. 2000) (quoting United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 703 (1983)). “Warrantless searches of a person’s home are presumptively unreasonable unless the person consents, or unless probable cause and exigent circumstances justify the search.” Gates, 537 F.3d at 420 (quoting United States v. Gomez–Moreno, 479 F.3d 350, 354 (5th Cir. 2007)) (modification omitted). Garcia indisputably engaged in a search when she entered the Werneckes’ home to look for KW. The Werneckes assert that this entry and the ensuing search were neither permitted by a search warrant (or its equivalent) nor reasonable. Garcia argues that the Nueces County court order giving TDFPS temporary emergency custody of KW under Texas Family Code § 262.102 gave her the implied authority to enter the home and search for KW; alternatively, she argues that the entry and search were reasonable under the circumstances. The district court found that the Werneckes’ allegations of an illegal search satisfied the first Saucier inquiry and continued on to consider whether the right allegedly violated was clearly established. The district court’s finding that the Werneckes alleged a Fourth Amendment violation was predicated on the district court’s understanding that “Garcia did not possess a warrant or an equivalent 9 No. 09-40132 court order authorizing her to enter the Wernecke residence on June 1, 2005,” and that under Texas Family Code § 261.303(b), “[f]amily courts in Texas may issue orders authorizing caseworkers to enter a private home to investigate child abuse or child neglect.” To evaluate whether this understanding is correct, we turn to the Texas Family Code and the procedures for seeking emergency custody orders. Under the Texas Family Code, TDPFS may seek a temporary court order giving custody of a child to TDFPS on an emergency basis. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 262.102(a) (Vernon 2009). This order may be obtained ex parte and without notice to the parents of the child; however, the court must first make three findings: (1) there is an immediate danger to the physical health or safety of the child . . . and . . . continuation in the home would be contrary to the child’s welfare; (2) there is no time, consistent with the physical health or safety of the child and the nature of the emergency, for a full adversary hearing . . . ; and (3) reasonable efforts, consistent with the circumstances and providing for the safety of the child, were made to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child. Id. (footnote call omitted). The court order that Garcia obtained was issued under this section of the Texas Family Code,8 and the order specifically stated that TDFPS “is named temporary sole managing conservator of [KW], with all 8 The question whether the Nueces County court reached the correct result in issuing this order is not before us. The district court concluded that: the custody battle over [KW] in 2005 is outside the scope of the [federal] case. Any claims that the [Werneckes] might wish to assert regarding the actions of [TDFPS] in assuming custody of [KW] in June 2005 are barred by either or both of the parallel doctrines of claim preclusion (res judicata) and issue preclusion (collateral estoppel). . . . [T]he [Werneckes] had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue of [KW]’s custody [in state court]. It goes without saying that this [federal district c]ourt does not and cannot sit as an appellate court over the County Court at Law of Nueces County or any other Texas court. The Werneckes do not question that conclusion, nor could they. 10 No. 09-40132 of the rights and duties listed in § 153.371, Texas Family Code, until a full adversary hearing is held.” Section 153.371, entitled “Rights and Duties of Nonparent Appointed as Sole Managing Conservator,” gives the appointed managing conservator “the right to have physical possession . . . of the child [and] the duty of care, control, protection, and reasonable discipline of the child.” TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 153.371(1), (2). Section 261.303(b), on which the district court relied, is entitled “Interference With Investigation; Court Order,” and states that “[i]f admission to the home, school, or any place where the child may be cannot be obtained, then for good cause shown the court . . . shall order the parent . . . to allow entrance for the interview, examination, and investigation.” TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 261.303(b). The Supreme Court has been clear in its interpretation of the Fourth Amendment that “[a]n arrest warrant founded on probable cause implicitly carries with it the limited authority to enter a dwelling in which the suspect lives when there is reason to believe the suspect is within.” Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 603 (1980); see also United States v. Barrera, 464 F.3d 496, 501, 504 (5th Cir. 2006) (applying Payton).9 Garcia argues that this reasoning should extend to child custody orders as well. In our most recent opinion on the interplay between child abuse and neglect investigations and the Constitution, we held that “the government may not seize a child from his or her parents absent a court order,[] parental consent, or exigent circumstances.” Gates, 537 F.3d at 429 (footnote call omitted). We noted that in the context of a seizure, “[a]n order properly issued by a court 9 In Steagald v. United States, the Court considered “whether an arrest warrant—as opposed to a search warrant—is adequate to protect the Fourth Amendment interests of persons not named in the warrant, when their homes are searched without their consent and in the absence of exigent circumstances.” 451 U.S. 204, 212 (1981). There, the Court declined to extend the Payton search warrant exception to the homes of third parties not named in an arrest warrant. See id. at 220. For purposes of our inquiry, Payton, rather than Steagald, controls, as KW resided with her parents in the Wernecke home. 11 No. 09-40132 pursuant to Texas Family Code § 262.102, which authorizes state courts to issue emergency orders to take possession of a child, . . . suffice[s] to meet the ‘warrant’ requirement . . . .” Id. at 429 n.16. At least one other circuit has made the same observation. See Burgess v. Houseman, 268 F. App’x 780, 783 & n.1 (10th Cir. 2008) (quoting J.B. v. Washington County, 127 F.3d 919, 930 (10th Cir. 1997), for the proposition that “[i]n the context of a seizure for child protection, a juvenile court order often serves the function of a warrant”). If a court order under § 262.102 suffices to meet the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement for a seizure, we see no reason that it should not also meet the warrant requirement in the context of a search of a child’s home to locate the child. Applying the rule from Payton v. New York, if the social workers executing a court order have reason to believe that the child is located within his or her home, the order itself will suffice to satisfy the warrant requirement. We note in particular that Texas law imposes on TDFPS workers the “duty of care, control [and] protection” of the child named in the § 262.102 order. TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 153.371(2).10 Under the Fourth Amendment, we find it reasonable and permissible for state workers in possession of a facially valid temporary 10 Furthermore, Texas also requires that a full adversary hearing be held within fourteen days of the removal of a child under a § 262.102 order. Id. § 262.201(a) (“Unless the child has already been returned to the parent . . . a full adversary hearing shall be held not later than the 14th day after the date the child was taken into possession by the governmental entity.”). At this adversary hearing, the court shall order the return of the child to the parent . . . unless the court finds sufficient evidence to satisfy a person of ordinary prudence and caution that: (1) there was a danger to the physical health or safety of the child which was caused by an act or failure to act of the person entitled to possession and for the child to remain in the home is contrary to the welfare of the child; (2) the urgent need for protection required the immediate removal of the child and reasonable efforts, consistent with the circumstances and providing for the safety of the child, were made to eliminate or prevent the child’s removal; and (3) reasonable efforts have been made to enable the child to return home, but there is a substantial risk of a continuing danger if the child is returned home. Id. § 262.201(b). In this case, a full adversary hearing was held on June 15–16, 2005, ten days after the initial attempt to take custody of KW. The Nueces County court decided not to return KW to her parents at that time. 12 No. 09-40132 custody order, with a duty under state law to take care of the child, to enter the child’s home to look for the child. In this case, Garcia investigated the report of medical neglect from KW’s physicians in accordance with her state law duties.11 She encouraged the Werneckes to schedule an appointment for KW to begin radiation treatment; when they did not do so, she presented the results of her investigation to a neutral and detached judge, who issued an order giving TDFPS temporary custody of KW. When she arrived at the Wernecke home on the afternoon of June 1, she had reason to believe that KW would be inside; in the absence of other information, it was reasonable to believe that a twelve-year-old child—particularly one who had recently undergone extensive chemotherapy treatment for a life-threatening disease—would be at home on a weeknight. Garcia did not need to take Mr. Wernecke at his word that KW was not at home; in fact, a parent might well not be candid about the child’s whereabouts in this situation. In those circumstances, Garcia did not violate the Fourth Amendment by entering the Wernecke home to look for KW. The district court reached the conclusion that Garcia’s entry was warrantless—and thus improper—based on § 261.303(b) of the Texas Family Code, which allows a court to issue an order allowing TDFPS workers to enter “any place where the child may be” in order to “interview, examin[e], and investigat[e]” the child upon a showing of good cause. However, this section—entitled “Interference with Investigation”—is purely an investigative tool and is not relevant to our constitutional analysis. Once Garcia obtained the § 262.102 order, she was not required to acquire an additional court order aimed only at the investigative process—just as a police officer who obtains a facially 11 The Texas Family Code requires that TDFPS “make a prompt and thorough investigation of a report of child abuse or neglect allegedly committed by a person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare.” TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 261.301(a). 13 No. 09-40132 valid arrest warrant is not required to secure an additional search warrant in order to arrest the suspect in his home. Cf. Payton, 445 U.S. at 603. We address three points raised by the Werneckes. First, the Werneckes note that Garcia “admitted . . . that the state court order [did] not permit her to enter and search the Wernecke home.” However, the subjective understanding of a state official is not relevant to our constitutional inquiry. Cf. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 397 (1989) (conducting constitutional analysis based on whether officers’ actions were objectively reasonable, “without regard to [the officers’] underlying intent or motivation”). To the extent that the Werneckes suggest that TDFPS training and procedures prohibit social workers from entering private homes absent a search warrant, consent, or exigent circumstances, we decline to penalize TDFPS for exercising prudence in enacting procedures that offer greater protection than the constitutional minimum. Second, the Werneckes contend that there was no emergency or exigent circumstances that would justify a warrantless entry into their home. This argument is misdirected, given our discussion above. However, in brief response, the Nueces County court had to find explicitly that the need for removal was urgent before issuing the § 262.102 order. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 262.102(a)(1), (2) (requiring a finding of “immediate danger” to child and “no time” for full adversary hearing). These findings supported an objectively reasonable belief that exigent circumstances existed justifying the entry and search for KW (the only child named in the § 262.102 order). Third, the Werneckes also argue that Wooley v. City of Baton Rouge stands for the proposition that officers may not rely on a custody order to enter a private home. This reliance is misplaced for two reasons. First, Wooley involved a private custody dispute between the child’s mother and grandparents—not a child abuse or neglect investigation by a state agency. 211 F.3d at 917. Second, the Louisiana custody order the officers relied upon in entering the home and 14 No. 09-40132 seizing the child was not analogous to a § 262.102 order—it was merely a “[g]eneral order[] stating that one parent is to have custody of the child,” not “a specific order signed by a judge and direct[ing] law enforcement to pick up a certain child and deliver him/her to a certain place.” Id. at 926. We conclude with a reflection upon the policy concerns underlying both our Fourth Amendment jurisprudence generally and our holding on this issue in particular. The Supreme Court has recognized the problem posed to law enforcement by inherently mobile subjects of an investigation, cf. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 51 (1970) (approving warrantless search of automobile based on probable cause in part because “the opportunity to search is fleeting since a car is readily movable”), and the Fifth Circuit has reiterated this concern in the child protection investigation context in Gates, where the panel included “the risk that the parent will flee with the child” on a list of factors informing the Fourth Amendment reasonableness analysis, 537 F.3d at 429. The facts of this case validate our continuing concern with the risk of flight in Fourth Amendment cases: KW was not present in the Wernecke home because Mrs. Wernecke had, in fact, absconded with her to prevent TDFPS from taking KW into protective custody. TDFPS did not take physical custody of KW until June 4, 2005, three days after the § 262.102 order was issued, because of Mrs. Wernecke’s evasion. With these concerns firmly in mind, we reiterate that when a state social worker obtains from a judge a temporary emergency custody order that imposes legal duties on the state agency and has reason to believe the child is within the child’s home, the social worker may, consistent with the Fourth Amendment, enter and search the home for the child.