Opinion ID: 883232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Did the District court err in instructing the jury on the Department of Family Services' duty to report child abuse to the County Attorney?

Text: The District Court refused to give a jury instruction offered by the plaintiffs on the Department's statutory duty to report child abuse cases to the County Attorney. This is a matter of interpreting § 41-3-201, MCA, which provides in pertinent part: (1) When the professionals and officials listed in subsection (2) know or have reasonable cause to suspect, as a result of information they receive in their professional or official capacity, that a child is abused or neglected, they shall report the matter promptly to the department of family services or its local affiliate, which then shall notify the county attorney of the county where the child resides. (2) Professionals and officials required to report are: . . . . . (g) a peace officer or other law enforcement official; ... In Demaree v. Safeway Stores, Inc. (1973), 162 Mont. 47, 54, 508 P.2d 570, 575, the Court said that a jury instruction which assumes as fact a matter legitimately in controversy, as shown by the evidence, is erroneous. The fact issue here, according to the Department, was whether reasonable cause to suspect abuse or neglect applied to both the law enforcement officers and the Department. We conclude that it applied only to the police officers. The Department did not notify the County Attorney of the report it received from the Bozeman Police Department concerning the Rax incident. We conclude that the plain language of this statute required the Department to report the Rax incident to the Gallatin County Attorney. This was not done. Plaintiffs' proposed Instruction No. 30 relating to the Department's duty to report abuse was as follows: When the Department of Family Services receives a report of child abuse, it is required to report the incident to the County Attorney where the child resides. The District Court refused to give this instruction and the plaintiffs claim this affected the percentage of negligence attributed to the Department and is reversible error. The Department contends that the instruction was properly refused as it did not apply to the evidence in this case because police had no reasonable cause to suspect abuse at the Rax restaurant. This does not agree with the record. The record indicates police believed there was reasonable cause to suspect abuse, but determined there was no probable cause to arrest Dennis Kuipers. The officer who observed the child also testified that she was new on the job and could not readily identify certain signs which she later learned should have alerted her that the child had been abused at the Rax restaurant, and that she likely had probable cause then to arrest Dennis Kuipers. Nonetheless, that is irrelevant here because the case was reported to the Department and the statute quoted above requires the Department subsequently to report it to the County Attorney. The reasonable cause reference in § 41-3-201, MCA, applies to the police having reasonable cause to suspect abuse or neglect. As we have stated, it does not apply to the Department. The statute requires the Department, upon receiving such a report, to notify the County Attorney of the county where the child resides. Plaintiffs' proposed Instruction No. 30 was a correct statement of the law and was improperly refused. One of the theories of plaintiffs' case was that the County Attorney was deprived of the opportunity to protect R.M. because of the Department's failure to comply with the statute. The District Court's failure to instruct the jury on the duty of the Department to notify the County Attorney prevented plaintiffs from arguing this theory of the case and could have affected the percentage of negligence attributed to the Department by the jury. In accord with the principles stated above from Story and Walden, refusal of plaintiffs' proposed instruction failed to state the correct law of the case. We hold the District Court erred in refusing to give the plaintiffs' offered jury instruction relating to the Department's statutory duty to report the Rax incident to the Gallatin County Attorney's office.