Opinion ID: 2982202
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: IIED claims

Text: Brent alleges that the social workers intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon him in myriad ways. The district court dismissed several of Brent’s IIED claims, but identified many more as remaining for trial. As the district court explained, [t]he essence of these allegations is that the State Defendants, despite having no actual belief that the Brent children were exposed to any harm in the home, nevertheless undertook a campaign to discover—or even fabricate—damaging evidence so as to get the children removed, and then, having accomplished that purpose, used the return of the children as collateral to coerce Brent to relinquish his parental authority. For example, Brent alleges that (1) Wenk, with Sampson’s approval, continued her investigation of the Brent family, notwithstanding their conclusion that the initial complaint was unsubstantiated, (2) Wenk and Sampson conducted this investigation having already predetermined the outcome and falsified various reports to support this outcome; (3) Wenk, Trice, McGehee, Lamar, and Sampson refused to explain what services were being offered to the Brent family or what harm, if any, the children faced in the absence of those services; (4) Wenk, Trice, McGehee and Sampson withheld information from Brent and refused to permit him to have any input regarding what was best for the family; (5) Wenk abused her authority to force her will upon the parents upon threat of the children not returning or being removed again after their return; (6) Wenk, Sampson, and Lamar refused to advise Brent what he needed to do to facilitate the return of his children; (7) Wenk coerced Brent into turning over all post-return decision-making authority with respect to the children’s education, medical care, and extracurricular activities by threatening that the children would otherwise not be permitted to return; (8) Sampson and Lamar refused to respond to or investigate Brent’s claims regarding constitutional, statutory, and policy violations; (9) despite having determined that the home was suitable for the children’s return, Trice, Lamar, and McGehee held the children hostage to coerce the Brents to forfeit their right to trial and falsified various documents to justify not returning the children; (10) Trice refused to provide services to reunify the - 25 - Case No. 12-2669 Brent v. Wenk et al. family, notwithstanding the review board’s conclusions that the medical and educational needs of the children were not being met during their removal and that they should be returned to the Brent home. Brent also alleges that these actions were taken with reckless disregard for their effect on him, and caused him extreme emotional distress. The social workers argue on appeal that they had no reason to know that any of these purported actions were unlawful, and that because the Family Court jury determined that Brent had neglected his children, their investigation cannot have been conducted with malice. They further contend that if this court finds no federal constitutional violations, then they must have been acting within the scope of their authority. Brent responds that because Michigan law requires the state employees to be trained in their legal duties, they cannot plausibly claim that they were mistaken as to those duties. He also contends that the defendants have offered no evidence suggesting that they were acting in good faith. We find Brent’s arguments the more persuasive at this stage of the case. First, the defendants cite no cases, orders of the Family Court, or Michigan statutes authorizing the ten actions that the district court identified as remaining for trial. Second, the defendants cite no authority for the proposition that simply because their actions did not violate the U.S. Constitution, they could reasonably believe that they were within the scope of their state-law authority. The defendants also fail to cite any compelling authority to support their claim that because the Family Court jury determined that Brent had neglected his children, none of their actions could have been taken with malice. Although they rely on the opinion of the Michigan Court of Appeals in Latits v. Phillips, 826 N.W.2d 190 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012), for the proposition that a finding of probable cause defeats a claim for false arrest, they offer no authority to suggest that Michigan law applies this holding to the actions of social workers in the context of child-neglect proceedings. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s decision that, at - 26 - Case No. 12-2669 Brent v. Wenk et al. this stage, the defendants have failed to negate the absence of a genuine dispute regarding Brent’s IIED claims, but we note that they may reassert their state-law immunity defense upon the completion of discovery.