Achterhof v. Selvaggio

Citation886 F.2d 826
Decision Date06 October 1989
Docket NumberNo. 88-2213,88-2213
Parties, 14 Fed.R.Serv.3d 827 James ACHTERHOF; Grace Achterhof, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Anthony F. SELVAGGIO, individually and as a Children's Protective Services employee of the Department of Social Services; Anna Meade, individually and as a Supervisor for the Department of Social Services; Richard H. Ritter, Individually and as the Director of the Barry County Department of Social Services, jointly and severally, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Vincent J. Leone and Becky M. Lamiman (argued), Asst. Attys. Gen., Tort Defense Div., Lansing, Mich., for defendants-appellees.

Jon D. VanderPloeg (argued), Smith, Haughey, Rice & Roegge, Grand Rapids, Mich., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Before MARTIN, MILBURN and RYAN, Circuit Judges.

BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judge.

James and Grace Achterhof appeal the dismissal of their section 1983 action for state interference with the family relationship in violation of their rights to due process, equal protection and freedom of association. The district court dismissed the action under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. For the reasons stated below, we reverse.

When considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), we accept as true the factual allegations in the complaint. Nishiyama v. Dickson County, Tennessee, 814 F.2d 277, 279 (6th Cir.1987) (en banc). On October 9, 1984, the Forest Hills Northern High School reported a case of suspected child abuse to the Kent County Department of Social Services in Kent County, Michigan. Officials at the high school noticed that Karen Achterhof, the daughter of James and Grace Achterhof, had suffered a minor injury to her face. They reported the case to the Michigan Department of Social Services pursuant to the Michigan's Child Protection Law, Mich.Comp.Laws Sec. 722.621 et seq. The injury resulted from an incident on October 7, 1984, when Karen apparently disobeyed a family rule. A family argument ensued in which James Achterhof slapped his daughter on the face.

Anthony Selvaggio, a social worker for the Michigan Department of Social Services in Barry County, but working in Kent County at the time, was assigned to the case on October 9, 1984. He allegedly "opened a case" and began his investigation with the approval of Ann Meade, his supervisor, and Richard Ritter, director of the Barry County Department of Social Services. Selvaggio also placed James Achterhof's name on the department's central registry, a record of all reports which contain relevant and accurate evidence of child abuse or neglect. James Achterhof's name remained on the central registry despite his request that the record be expunged. On February 20, 1985, Achterhof's name was expunged from the record following an administrative hearing pursuant to Mich.Comp.Laws Sec. 722.627(3). From November 8, 1984 until January 31, 1985 Selvaggio continued to contact Karen Achterhof.

As a result of this investigation, James and Grace Achterhof filed this lawsuit on January 28, 1988. An amended complaint was filed on February 3, 1988. In count I of their amended complaint the Achterhofs alleged that the investigation violated their rights to freedom of association and due process guaranteed by the first and fourteenth amendments by interfering with their family relationship. In count II the couple alleged that the defendants violated their rights to due process and equal protection under the fourteenth amendment by failing to remove James Achterhof's name from the central registry of child abuse reports. In count III the Achterhofs claimed that their rights to due process and freedom of association were violated by Selvaggio's continued contact with Karen Achterhof in the process of investigating the case. In count IV the Achterhofs alleged that Meade and Ritter were responsible for authorizing Selvaggio's actions. Counts V and VI stated that the defendants committed various torts against the Achterhofs under Michigan law.

On February 25, 1988, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. On October 25, 1988, the district court entered an opinion and order dismissing the Achterhofs' complaint.

The court dismissed counts I and II of the complaint because it found that Selvaggio, Meade and Ritter enjoyed absolute immunity in deciding to "open a case," for placing James Achterhof's name on the central registry and for later refusing to remove it. The court noted that officials who perform "prosecutorial functions" are entitled to absolute immunity so that they may perform their duties free from intimidation and harassment. The court found that the decision to "open a case" and to place a person's name on the central registry under Michigan's Child Protection Law were strongly analogous to prosecutorial acts and thus entitled to absolute immunity. See, e.g., Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978) (prosecutorial immunity extended by analogy to executive branch officials charged with conducting administrative proceedings against individuals and corporations).

The district court dismissed count III because it found that Selvaggio's attempts to contact Karen Achterhof after the initial investigation were entitled to qualified immunity. Following the Fifth Circuit's decision in Hodorowski v. Ray, 844 F.2d 1210 (5th Cir.1988), and the Second Circuit's decision in Robison v. Via, 821 F.2d 913, 919 (2d Cir.1987), the district court concluded that Selvaggio's actions were "investigatory" in nature not "prosecutorial." The court then applied the standard for qualified immunity announced by the Supreme Court in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982), and Andersen v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987), as summarized by this court in Poe v. Haydon, 853 F.2d 418, 423 (6th Cir.1988), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 788, 102 L.Ed.2d 780 (1989). The district court found that in continuing to contact Karen Achterhof, Selveggio had not violated any "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2738.

The court dismissed count IV of the Achterhofs' complaint sua sponte under Rule 12(b)(6). The court found that this claim, directed against Selvaggio's superiors, Ritter and Meade, could not be sustained because it failed the standard for evaluating proximate cause in section 1983 cases announced by this court in Nishiyama v. Dickson County, Tennessee, 814 F.2d 277 (6th Cir.1987) (en banc). In Nishiyama we held, in part, following the Supreme Court's decision in Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980), that a section 1983 claim for deprivation of a constitutional right may fail because the alleged deprivation may be too remote a consequence of governmental action to hold the state responsible. Nishiyama, 814 F.2d at 280-81. In count IV of their complaint, the Achterhofs complained that Ritter and Meade failed to properly select, discipline and control their employees, including Selvaggio, and that this failure made their misfortune possible. The district court held that the injury allegedly caused by Selvaggio's conduct was too remote a consequence of Ritter and Meade's actions to hold them responsible.

Because it dismissed all of the Achterhofs' federal claims, the district court also dismissed the pendant state claims of counts V and VI. United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966).

The dismissal of the Achterhofs' complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) was improper in this case for two reasons. First, the district court incorrectly found that absolute immunity applied to the actions of Selvaggio complained of in counts I and II. Although section 1983 "on its face admits of no immunities," Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 339, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1095, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986), the Supreme Court has interpreted the statute to include immunity defenses. Traditionally, absolute immunity has applied only to prosecutors, see Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976), and judges, see Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978); Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967); Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 335, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1872). Recently, the Court has expanded the application of absolute immunity to those government officials whose duties are functionally analogous to the duties of judges and prosecutors. See, e.g., Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 514-15, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2914-15, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978).

The Court has been reluctant, however, to let this functional, analogical approach greatly expand the scope of absolute immunity. See, e.g., Malley, 475 U.S. at 341-43, 106 S.Ct. at 1096-97 (police officer who inappropriately sought arrest warrant, though similar to prosecutor seeking indictment, not protected by absolute immunity). The Court has declined to grant absolute immunity to those not "intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process." Imbler, 424 U.S. at 430, 96 S.Ct. at 995. Section 1983 has been interpreted in this manner "not from an exaggerated esteem for those who perform these functions, and certainly not from a desire to shield abuses of office, but because any lesser degree of immunity could impair the judicial process itself." Malley, 475 U.S. at 342, 106 S.Ct. at 1097. Official conduct not entitled to absolute immunity can at most enjoy the protection of qualified immunity. See Harlow, 457 U.S. at 807, 102 S.Ct. at 2732.

In restricting absolute immunity to those functions intimately associated with the judicial process, courts have made...

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