Opinion ID: 767557
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: analysis

Text: 22 The Wallises allege that the City of Escondido, through the actions of its Police Department, violated the family's constitutional rights by the unlawful removal of Lauren and Jessie from their home in the middle of the night and by the subsequent unlawful detention of the children, including the invasive vaginal and anal examinations. A municipality like the City can be sued for constitutional deprivations visited pursuant to governmental custom. Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690 (1978). In order to avoid summary judgment, a plaintiff need only show that there is a question of fact regarding whether there is a city custom or policy that caused a constitutional deprivation. Chew v. Gates, 27 F.3d 1432, 1444 (9th Cir. 1994); Jackson v. Gates, 975 F.2d 648 (9th Cir. 1992) (city may be liable when its policy is the moving force behind constitutional violation). The Wallises are entitled to prevail on this appeal, therefore, if they introduced sufficient evidence to show that there is an issue of material fact as to whether (1) their constitutional rights were violated; and (2) the violations were caused by a Police Department custom or practice. 5
23 The Wallises argue that the seizure and removal of the children from their parents' custody in the middle of the night pursuant to a non-existent court order violated their rights under the Constitution. Parents and children have a wellelaborated constitutional right to live together without governmental interference. Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 753 (1982); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645 (1972); Pierce v. Soc'y of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35 (1925); Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923). That right is an essential liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee that parents and children will not be separated by the state without due process of law except in an emergency. Stanley, 405 U.S. at 651; Campbell v. Burt , 141 F.3d 927 (9th Cir. 1998); Ram v. Rubin, 118 F.3d 1306, 1310 (9th Cir. 1996); Caldwell v. LeFaver, 928 F.2d 331, 333 (9th Cir. 1991); Baker v. Racansky, 887 F.2d 183, 186 (9th Cir. 1988); accord, J.B., 127 F.3d at 927; Croft , 103 F.3d at 1125; Hurlman v. Rice, 927 F.2d74, 79 (2d Cir. 1991); Duchesne v. Sugarman, 556 F.2d 817, 824 (2d Cir. 1977). The Wallises have produced more than enough evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the removal of the children from their parents' custody was violative of their constitutional rights.
24 It is now beyond dispute that no court authorized anyone to remove Lauren and Jessie from their home on September 21, 1991. The Wallises contend that the City's police officers removed the children on the basis of a non-existent court order, and have produced substantial evidence that this is what actually happened. Detectives Pitcher, Claytor, and Burkett all testified that they were told by someone at CPS that there was a pick-up order and that their task was to locate the family and enforce the order. Detective Pitcher testified in her deposition that she told Bill and Becky Wallis that she was taking their small children away in the middle of the night because of the order . . . because of the investigation that had already taken place in CPS. Detective Burkett confirmed that the officers probably told Bill and Becky that there was an order requiring the removal of the children. Indeed, the only evidence that could be construed as offering any other reason for the pick-up is Detective Pitcher's subsequent statements that appear to contradict her earlier testimony. 6 25 The testimony of CPS workers regarding what they told the police is somewhat different. Sue Plante testified that she could not recall telling the officers that there was a court order to remove the children; her contemporaneous notes indicate, however, that it is possible that she did advise the police to pick them up. Karen Cabico, the official case-worker, flatly denied conveying any such information to the police; her notes report, however, a phone call from Plante informing her that a district attorney had stated that there was enough evidence to pick up the kids. 26 The City does not seriously challenge the contention that the officers took custody of Lauren and Jessie because they mistakenly believed that there was an outstanding court order. Nor on this appeal do they separately argue that either a mistaken belief that a court order exists, or reliance on an erroneous statement to that effect from a social service agency worker, satisfies the requirement for a court order or provides reasonable cause, in itself, for the seizure of the children. 7 Instead, confronted with the fact that there was no court order to remove the children from their parents' control, the City contends that the removals were nonetheless lawful, essentially because the facts of which the police were aware regarding the impending Satanic sacrifice of Jessie provided reasonable cause to seize the children. 8
27 Officials may remove a child from the custody of its parent without prior judicial authorization only if the information they possess at the time of the seizure is such as provides reasonable cause to believe that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury and that the scope of the intrusion is reasonably necessary to avert that specific injury. Good, 891 F.2d at 1093 (citing Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 393 (1978)); see also Campbell, 141 F.3d at 927; Franz v. Lytle, 997 F.2d 784 (10th Cir. 1993); Hurlman v. Rice , 927 F.2d 74, 80 (2d Cir. 1991) (collecting cases). The existence of reasonable cause, and the related questions, are all questions of fact to be determined by the jury. McKenzie v. Lamb , 738 F.2d 1005, 1008 (9th Cir. 1984) (per Kennedy, J.); Smiddy v. Varney, 665 F.2d 261, 265 (9th Cir. 1981) (per Sneed, J.) Summary judgment in favor of the defendants is improper unless, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, it is clear that no reasonable jury could conclude that the plaintiffs' constitutional rights were violated. 28 Thus, summary judgment was improper here if a material question of fact exists regarding whether (1) there was reasonable cause to believe, on the basis of the information in the possession of the Escondido police officers, that the Wallis children faced an immediate threat of serious physical injury or death; or (2) the actions taken by the officers -removing the children from their mother and placing them in an institution -exceeded the permissible scope of the action necessary to protect them from that immediate threat. We conclude that there are material disputes of fact with respect to both questions. 29 First, the state may not remove children from their parents' custody without a court order unless there is specific, articulable evidence that provides reasonable cause to believe that a child is in imminent danger of abuse. Croft v. Westmoreland County Children and Youth Servs., 103 F.3d 1123, 1125; Ram v. Rubin, 118 F.3d 1306, 1311 (9th Cir. 1997) (An indictment or serious allegations of abuse which are investigated and corroborated usually gives rise to a reasonable inference of imminent danger.); Good , 891 F.2d 1087, 1093 (3d Cir. 1989) (citing Mincey v. Arizona , 437 U.S. 385, 393 (1978)); see also Campbell, 141 F.3d at 927; Franz, 997 F.2d 784; Hurlman v. Rice, 927 F.2d 74, 80 (2d Cir. 1991) (collecting cases). Moreover, the police cannot seize children suspected of being abused or neglected unless reasonable avenues of investigation are first pursued, particularly where it is not clear that a crime has been -or will be -committed. See Sevigny v. Dicksey, 846 F.2d 953, 957 (4th Cir. 1988) (holding that child abuse investigator has duty to investigate information that would have clarified matters prior to separating children from their parents); BeVier v. Hucal, 806 F.2d 123, 128 (7th Cir. 1986) (officer has duty to make a thorough investigation and exercise reasonable judgment before invoking the awesome power of arrest and detention). Whether a reasonable avenue of investigation exists, however, depends in part upon the time element and the nature of the allegations. 30 At the time Lauren and Jessie were removed, the police department had received a report from a mental health worker that an institutionalized mental patient, who had an extensive history of severe delusional disorders and multiple personalities, had told a story of anticipated ritual murder by Jessie's father -a story that would appear to an objective observer clearly to be founded in mental illness. In fact, Detective Claytor later testified that the allegations sounded a little bizarre to him, and that he had expressed that opinion to Detective Pitcher at the time. Applying a reasonable cause standard, the juvenile court judge who subsequently heard the dependency petition in this case explicitly rejected those charges as a basis for removing Lauren and Jessie from their parents' custody. Detective Pitcher, however, stated that in her mind she believed the story because it was conveyed to her by Young, an expert. 31 The only other facts on which the City relies to demonstrate that the officers had reasonable cause to believe that there was an imminent threat to the children's welfare at the very most help the City establish that a genuine issue of material fact exists and that summary judgment should not be awarded to the Wallises. See McKenzie, 738 F.2d at 1008. Those facts, taken together with Rachel's tale as reported by Young, do not by any means justify the conclusion that a reasonable jury would be required to find that the officers had reasonable cause for taking the children into custody. The additional facts are as follows: First, the City claims that the officers confirmed that Rachel's and Becky's father, David Stecks, owned a boat named Witch Way. In fact, the police did not confirm any such thing; according to Detective Claytor, who was the officer searching for the boat, he learned only that a boat with a similar name (Witch's Way) was docked in Oceanside. He did not, however, confirm that the boat was owned, or used, by David Stecks, or by any member of Becky's family. Moreover, the police never conducted any investigation whatsoever into how the boat acquired its name, or whether Stecks had anything to do with naming it. Next, the City relies on the fact that the Wallises had moved from the address Rachel supplied, which the City characterizes as disappearing from where they were supposed to be. An equally valid inference is that the Wallises' change of address demonstrates the unreliability of Rachel's tip, because important information Rachel provided proved false, and because Rachel lacked knowledge regarding important family matters. Third, Detective Pitcher testified that she accorded significance to five-year-old Lauren's statement about spiders and her elusive behavior on being awakened at 1:00 a.m. The Wallises are entitled to the inference that Lauren was drowsy and had nothing adverse to report. In any event, when asked by Pitcher if anyone had ever given her bad touches, Lauren denied that anyone ever had, which is hardly elusive. 9 32 Finally, we note that the tip itself stated that Becky Wallis was probably unaware that Bill was contemplating harming Jessie and was not part of the plot to kill her son. 10 Nevertheless, the City acknowledges that its officers did not interview Becky because they mistakenly thought they were enforcing a court order. More important, for this reason, the officers alsodid not undertake any significant investigation into the underlying charge, specifically, the allegation that Jessie would be sacrificed. 33 Under the circumstances, a jury could reasonably conclude that the information possessed by the officers was insufficient to give rise to reasonable cause or that the officers' conduct in failing to investigate the mental patient's bizarre tale before acting was not reasonable. While ordinarily a close relative's tip that a child is about to be killed might provide reasonable cause to believe that an emergency exists and justify a seizure of the child without prior judicial authorization, the facts in this case are far from ordinary. They are, indeed, extraordinary in every sense of the word, including the fact that the close relative had a long history of psychiatric disorders, was confined to a mental institution, and told a tale that was wholly incredible. In any event, given the factual uncertainty regarding the information actually possessed by the officers at the time they removed the children, the contradictions in Detective Pitcher's testimony and sworn statements, the absence of any significant investigation into the allegations, and the extraordinary nature of the allegations, it cannot be said as a matter of law that reasonable cause existed, or that the officers acted reasonably. Viewing the evidence in the record in the light most favorable to the Wallises, we conclude that a reasonable jury could find that the officers did not have reasonable cause to remove the children without a court order.
34 Even if state action to protect Jessie against future Satanic sacrifice by his father were reasonable under the circumstances, triable issues of fact would exist regarding whether the scope and degree of the state interference was justified by the alleged exigency. Bell, 441 U.S. at 559; Barlow, 943 F.2d at 1138 (Police officers can proceed without a warrant if they reasonably believe they are confronted with an emergency that threatens life or limb, but the [intrusion] must be strictly circumscribed by the exigencies which justify its initiation.); Franz, 997 F.2d at 791 (intrusion must be reasonably necessary to alleviate the threat); Good, 891 F.2d at 1093 (under very limited exception to warrant rule, intrusion must be reasonably necessary to alleviate the threat of immediate harm); Hebein, 37 F. Supp.2d at 1043 (holding that danger must justify the degree of interference imposed). Merely because some intrusion on a child's protected privacy and security interests may be reasonable does not mean that any intrusion is. 35 Here, the City asserts that the exigency motivating the officers' decision to remove the children without a court order was the belief that Bill Wallis would sacrifice Jessie to Satan on the Fall Equinox, which was to occur on September 23, 1991. The City argues in its brief that part of its reasonable belief in the credibility of this threat was the information that the Equinox is one of the high holidays  for devil worshipers, when cultists perform human sacrifices and . . . believe that they derive energy from abusing children on that day. (emphasis added). By the City's own admission, then, the police had no information that Jessie's father's plot extended beyond the Equinox; the imminent danger to Jessie was to occur specifically and only on September 23, 1991, a day after the children's seizure. Thus, there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the emergency continued to exist for more than the brief day or two following the time of the children's seizure. 36 Furthermore, as previously noted, the police had no information whatsoever that implicated the children's mother in any past or future abuse. There is no evidence that the children could not have been taken with their mother to a shelter, or placed under some other form of protective custody with her until after the Equinox, or even until some later date. A genuine issue of material fact exists therefore as to whether the removal of the children fromtheir mother's custody, and their placement in a county institution for an indefinite period, was sufficiently strictly circumscribed by the exigency that justified the City's intrusion into the children's lives. Good, 891 F.2d at 1093. Such questions are also to be decided by a jury. McKenzie, 738 F.2d at 1008.
37 The Wallises contend that the violation of their rights occasioned by the City's removal of the children continued for the more than two month period during which the children were detained. During that time, the children were held in Hillcrest Receiving Home, and moved through at least three different confidential foster homes. Their parents were not permitted to know their whereabouts and were only allowed one hour of supervised visitation per week. There is evidence in the record that the children were traumatized by the separation and cried constantly for their parents. The Wallises contended below that the City was liable for all the damages that flowed from this entire ordeal because the City's policy was the legal cause of the separation. The City, in response, contended that it could not be held liable for any detention of the children after their removal was approved by the juvenile court. We leave it to the district court on remand to determine whether any City policy could be held to have caused any violation of the Wallises' rights after the date of the juvenile court hearing. With respect to the four-day period between the removal and the court hearing, only one alleged violation of the Wallises' rights merits separate consideration -the subjecting of Lauren and Jessie to invasive vaginal and anal medical examinations at the behest of the Escondido police department. 38 The right to family association includes the right of parents to make important medical decisions for their children, and of children to have those decisions made by their parents rather than the state. See Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 602 (1979) (holding that it is in the interest of both parents and children that parents have ultimate authority to make medical decisions for their children unless neutral fact finder determines, through due process hearing, that parent is not acting in child's best interests); see also Calabretta v. Floyd, F.3d (9th Cir. 1999) (holding that [t]he government's interest in the welfare of children embraces not only protecting children from physical abuse, but also protecting children's interest in the privacy and dignity of their homes and in the lawfully exercised authority of their parents.). We agree with the Second Circuit which held, in van Emrick v. Chemung County Dept. of Social Servs. , that the Constitution assures parents that, in the absence of parental consent, [physical examinations] of their child may not be undertaken for investigative purposes at the behest of state officials unless a judicial officer has determined, upon notice to the parents, and an opportunity to be heard, that grounds for such an examination exist and that the administration of the procedure is reasonable under all the circumstances. 11 911 F.2d 863, 867 (2d Cir. 1990). Barring a reasonable concern that material physical evidence might dissipate, see Schmerber, 384 U.S. at 770, or that some urgent medical problem exists requiring immediate attention, the state is required to notify parents and to obtain judicial approval before children are subjected to investigatory physical examinations. 12 39 Moreover, parents have a right arising from the liberty interest in family association to be with their children while they are receiving medical attention (or to be in a waiting room or other nearby area if there is a valid reason for excluding them while all or a part of the medical procedure is being conducted). Likewise, children have a corresponding right to the love, comfort, and reassurance of their parents while they are undergoing medical procedures, including examinations -particularly those, such as here, that are invasive or upsetting. 13 The interest in family association is particularly compelling at such times, in part because of the possibility that a need to make medical decisions will arise, and in part because of the family's right to be together during such difficult and often traumatic events. 14
40 In light of the above, we conclude that there are genuine issues of fact as to whether the Wallises' constitutional rights were violated when the Escondido police officers took the children into custody, placed them in a county institution, and subjected them to invasive medical procedures. We must still consider, however, whether the City is entitled to summary judgment on the ground that the police officers did not engage in the conduct at issue pursuant to any municipal policy, custom, or practice.
41 Next, we must consider whether a material question of fact exists regarding whether the constitutional deprivations (which for purposes of summary judgment we must assume occurred) were caused by a practice or custom which constitutes . . . standard operating procedure. Trevino v. Gates, 99 F.3d 911, 918 (9th Cir. 1996). The Wallises adduced testimony from Pitcher, Burkett, and Claytor that there was a practice -a longstanding agreement, in Burkett's words -of enforcing orders to take protective custody of children without ever seeing the order.This is sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact regarding the existence of a custom or practice of taking children from their homes based on telephone calls from CPS without adequate safeguards to ensure that the removal is legal. 42 Furthermore, the Wallises presented evidence from which it may reasonably be inferred that the Escondido Police Department customarily took children that it placed at Hillcrest Receiving Home for invasive investigatory examinations at Palomar Hospital without obtaining a court order and without notifying their parents. Detective Pitcher, who ordered the investigatory examinations, acknowledged that she may have done so in fulfillment of her function as the juvenile detective who removed the children from their parents' custody, and that there was a contract between Palomar and the Escondido Police Department for the performance of such investigatory examinations. A reasonable inference may be drawn from this evidence that it was standard operating procedure to obtain those examinations without seeking judicial authorization or notifying the parents; indeed, given the absence of any individualized suspicion of sexual abuse, it is difficult to imagine, on the basis of the record before us, why else the Wallis children would have been subjected to the invasive examinations. 43 The Wallises also produced sufficient evidence to create a question of fact for the jury as to whether these customs and practices had a direct causal link to the deprivations of the Wallises' constitutional rights detailed above. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 385 (1989); Chew v. Gates, 27 F.3d 1432, 1444, 1456 (9th Cir. 1994) (holding that city may properly be held liable where policy is moving force behind constitutional violation); Jackson v. Gates, 975 F.2d 648, 654 (9th Cir. 1992) (holding that city's policy need not be unconstitutional per se, but need only cause a constitutional violation). A reasonable jury could readily conclude, viewing the evidence presently in the record in the light most favorable to the Wallises, that the moving force behind the removal of the children from the parents' custody was the policy of accepting telephonic representations from CPS without any procedure for checking on the accuracy or validity of the supposed orders. See McMurray v. Sheahan, 927 F. Supp. 1082, 1090 (N.D. Ill. 1996) (holding county liable for false arrests when it has no system to check validity of warrants on computer system). That would be true whether a CPS employee had erroneously told the police that a pick-up order existed or whether the police mistakenly believed that a CPS employee had made such a statement. Similarly, a reasonable jury could conclude that the investigatory vaginal and anal examinations were performed on the children pursuant to a Police Department custom and practice of instigating body cavity examinations without first notifying the parents and without seeking prior court authorization whenever its officers place children in protective custody. 15 44 The district court incorrectly held that even if the City did have policies that caused the deprivations, it was not liable because any absolute and qualified immunities possessed by the individual officers were somehow transferred to the city itself. There are, however, no personal immunities available vicariously or otherwise to municipal actors under S 1983. Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 166 (1993). It appears that the district court also applied state statutory immunities for child abuse investigations to the federal constitutional claims and concluded that the City is immune from a S 1983 action under a state immunity statute. Again, the district court erred. Immunity under S 1983 is governed by federal law; state law cannot provide immunity from suit for federal civil rights violations. Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 284 (1980); Good v. Dauphin County Social Serv., 981 F.2d 1087, 1090-91 (3d Cir. 1989) (holding that state law providing immunity from suit for child abuse investigators has no application to suits under S 1983). In sum, the City of Escondido has the benefit of neither federal nor state immunity from liability under S 1983 for the alleged violations of the Wallises' constitutional rights. 45 Appellants' evidence regarding municipal custom and practice is sufficient to permit them to survive summary judgment on the Monell issue. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment to the City of Escondido with respect to the Wallises' S 1983 claims.
46 In addition to their constitutional claims, the Wallises sued the City for abduction, assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted summary judgment to the City on those claims also, holding that the police had reasonable cause to remove the children and to subject them to vaginal and anal examinations, and thus violated no state laws. As discussed above, on the basis of the record before us, whether there was reasonable cause for the removal of Lauren and Jessie from their home is a question of fact for the jury; so, too, as we have fully explained, the City is not entitled to summary judgment regarding the physical examinations. 47 The officers contend that under Cal. Govt. Code S 820.2, they -and under state law, by extension, the City -are immune from liability on the state law tort claims. 16 The district court concluded that the police had reasonable cause to seize the children and subject them to the invasive medical examinations, it did not reach the question of immunity. Given the conclusions we have reached, however, it is necessary for us to do so. 17 48 Under S 820.2, a public employee cannot be held liable for any injury resulting from his act or omission where the act or omission was the result of the exercise of discretion vested in him, whether or not such discretion be abused. The City correctly asserts that S 820.2 applies to county social workers engaged in investigating allegations of child abuse, and extends to other public employees whom those social workers reasonably enlist to assist in the investigation. Newton v. County of Napa, 266 Cal. Rptr. 682, 687 (Cal. App. 1990); Alicia T. v. County of Los Angeles, 271 Cal. Rptr. 513, 519-20 (Cal. App. 1990) (holding that social workers' immunity is designed to protect the continuing exercise of . . . discretion in favor of the protection of minor children). This immunity provides complete protection for the decision to investigate, to make an in-person response, and for actions necessary to make a meaningful investigation. It does not extend, however, to non-discretionary actions or to at least some intentional torts committed in the course of making the investigation, such as battery and false imprisonment. Newton, 266 Cal. Rptr. at 687-88. 18 49 As to the removal of the children, many of the relevant facts are in dispute, including the question whether the police officers took Lauren and Jessie into custody pursuant to a request from CPS, the agency in which the discretion to make such decisions was vested. Summary judgment would not be proper on the basis of so unclear and undeveloped a record. With respect to the vaginal and anal examinations, summary judgment on S 820.2 immunity grounds is equally inappropriate. The Wallises contend that Detective Pitcher was simply carrying out a mandatory municipal policy that did not involve the exercise of any discretion. Should they prevail on their theory, S 820.2 would be inapplicable to that part of their claims.