Angeles v. Willden

• Decision Date: 07 May 2014
• Docket Number: 2:10-cv-00528-RCJ-PAL
• Parties: HENRY A. et al., Plaintiffs, v. MICHAEL WILLDEN et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Nevada

HENRY A. et al., Plaintiffs, v. MICHAEL WILLDEN et al., Defendants.

2:10-cv-00528-RCJ-PAL

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA

Dated: May 7, 2014

ORDER

This case arises out of the alleged failure of Nevada and Clark County officials to adequately protect foster children. Pending before the Court are County Defendants' Motion to Disqualify Counsel (ECF No. 313), Defendant Philomena Osemwengie's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 288), and Third-Party Defendant National Deaf Academy, LLC's ('NDA") Motion to Dismiss or Stay and to Transfer Venue (ECF No. 280). For the reasons given herein, the Court grants the motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and will hear argument on the motions for summary judgment and to disqualify counsel at the hearing currently scheduled for May 15, 2014.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiffs are eleven children who claim to have been harmed due to the failure of state and county child welfare authorities to adhere to certain mandatory laws and regulations and to ensure their safety as a general matter. Their injuries include abuse and neglect by foster parentsand institutional guardians, as well as a lack of medical care due to authorities' refusal to authorize or monitor it.

Plaintiff Henry A. is a fourteen-year-old boy who was placed into foster care by the Clark County Department of Family Services ("CCDFS") and the Nevada Division of Children and Family Services ("NDCFS") from 2005 until February 2013, when he was returned to his mother's care. (Second Am. Compl. ¶ 20, July 12, 2013, ECF No. 176). He suffers from severe mental health problems but his treatment has been sporadic because of his placement with over forty foster families and six or seven caseworkers during his first seven years under CCDFS. (See id.). He has changed mental health providers over ten times. (Id.). He has been prescribed multiple psychotropic drugs and once overdosed because of a combination of these drugs, spending several weeks in the intensive care unit. (Id.).

Plaintiffs Charles B. and Charlotte B. are siblings, ages twelve and four, respectively. (Id. ¶ 21). They were placed into seventeen different placements for foster care by CCDFS from March 2009 to the Fall of 2010, when they were returned to their mother's care. (Id.). CCDFS placed Charles and Charlotte with foster parents in March 2009 despite a court order requiring placement with their grandmother. (Id.). One foster mother and her teenage son abused them, including locking Charlotte in a closet with no food, water, or sanitation for long periods of time and beating Charles when he tried to help his sister. (Id.). The police eventually removed them and took them to the hospital for treatment. (Id.). Charlotte was suffering from dehydration, cuts, bruises, and severe (bleeding) diaper rash. (Id.). The foster mother has been charged with child abuse, and her son has pled guilty to assault. (Id.).

Plaintiff Linda E. is a twenty-year-old woman who was placed into more than forty different placements for foster care by CCDFS and NDCFS for over fifteen years. (Id. ¶ 22). She suffered abuse and neglect in many of these placements, including being placed into the home of an aunt where she had previously suffered unspecified abuse. (Id.). Linda reported the abuse toher caseworker. (Id.). She did not receive proper medical and psychiatric care. (Id.).

Plaintiffs Leo and Victor C. are twenty-year-old twins who were placed into foster care by CCDFS in November 2006. (Id. ¶ 23). Leo left the system when he became an adult in December 2010. (Id.). Victor, however, chose to remain in the system after age eighteen and now receives benefits under Assembly Bill 350. (Id.). Defendants refused to place Leo and Victor in the care of their grandmother, who was ready, willing, and able to provide a safe and appropriate environment for them, instead moving them between their father and their mother and her boyfriend, where they suffered unspecified abuse. (Id.). Eventually, either their mother or father abandoned them at Child Haven. (See id.). Defendants failed to provide psychiatric care despite Victor's suicidal threats. (Id.). Plaintiffs do not allege any untreated psychiatric conditions of Leo.

Plaintiffs Maizy and Jonathan D. are siblings. (Id. ¶ 24). Maizy and Jonathan are ages eight and seven, respectively, and were placed into foster care by CCDFS from late 2005 to August 2009. (Id.). As infants, Defendants placed them with Child Haven, where they did not receive basic nutrition and medical care. (Id.). They were kept on a "formula diet" despite outgrowing it. (Id.). Maizy and Jonathan were left in their cribs with limited interaction with other children and adults, resulting in a diagnosis (presumably by a doctor, though not explicitly so alleged) with "failure to thrive," based upon being underweight due to environmental factors. (See id.). S.W. has adopted both children. (Id.). Defendants have failed to provide authorization for at least three medical procedures for the children despite S.W.'s efforts. (Id. ¶ 25). The related conditions became so severe that doctors proceeded with the procedures on an emergency basis. (Id.). As a result, Jonathan has a misshapen colon that must be surgically corrected due to Defendants' failure to authorize removal of calcified stool from his colon. (Id.).

Plaintiff Olivia G. is a twelve-year-old girl who was placed into foster care by CCDFS from January 2006 to 2011. (Id. ¶ 26). Defendants failed to remove her from the custody of herparents despite reports that she was being abused. (Id.). She was initially placed with various relatives without any effort to determine if they were able to provide appropriate care. (Id.). She was abused in some of those homes, including being beaten with a belt. (Id.). She has severely impaired neuropsychological functioning and several cognitive and behavioral impairments as a result. (Id.). She was also prescribed multiple psychotropic drugs without adequate care and monitoring, including being placed with E.F. without providing E.F. the information and authorizations required to obtain Olivia's prescriptions. (Id.).

Plaintiff Christine F. is a six-year-old girl who was placed into foster care by CCDFS from May 2008 to June 2010, when E.F. adopted her. (Id. ¶ 27). Christine is severely developmentally delayed and suffers form permanent disabilities and a seizure disorder due to having fallen from a second-story window at the home of her mother, grandmother, and two uncles. (See id.). Despite marks around her ankles indicating she had been dangled from the window or been swung into a wall, CCDFS did not investigate and take custody of Christine until her parents refused to authorize medical treatment necessary to treat her injuries. (Id.). Defendants later failed to provide E.F. with Christine's seizure medications and offered no medical support or training on how to care for her special needs. (Id.). Defendants have also permitted her grandmother to visit her despite knowing of past allegations of abuse against her and that she was watching over Christine when she fell from the window. (Id.).¹

Plaintiff Mason I. is a fifteen-year-old boy who has been placed into foster care by CCDFS since July 2003. (Id. ¶ 28). Mason has been deaf since birth and entered foster care at age six after suffering physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by his parents and grandparents. (Id.). He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, reactive attachment disorder, and other serious mental health problems. (Id.). During his first six years in foster care, he was placed intotwenty-five different homes, including a treatment center in Florida, the National Deaf Academy ('NDA"). (Id.). The NDA staff rendered Mason's cochlear implant permanently inoperative against his wishes. (Id.). Defendants ignored Mason's complaints of sexual abuse by NDA staff. (Id.). Defendants have failed to place Mason into homes where his special needs will be met, i.e., with a qualified American Sign Language interpreter and have failed to provide speech therapy. (Id.). Defendants have failed to disclose Mason's medical, mental, social, and educational backgrounds to his foster parents and have failed to properly supervise the administration of Mason's psychotropic drugs. (Id.).

The current State Defendants are Michael Willden, Director of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services ("NDHHS"), sued in his official capacity, (id. ¶ 30); and Amber Howell, the Administrator of NDCFS, sued in her official capacity, (id. ¶ 31). The current County Defendants are Clark County, Nevada, (id. ¶ 33); Virginia Valentine, the Clark County Manager from August 2006 to January 2011, sued in her individual capacity, (id. ¶ 34); Don Burnette, the current Clark County Manager, sued in his official capacity, (id. ¶ 35); Tom Morton, the Director of CCDFS from July 2006 to August 2011, sued in his individual capacity, (id. ¶ 36); and Lisa Ruiz-Lee, the current Director of CCDFS, sued in her official capacity, (id. ¶ 37). The current "Doe Defendants"² are ten current or former caseworkers, licensing investigators, and other employees of CCDFS: Stacey Scott, Thor Martinez, Debbie Mallwitz, Sonya Weathers, Darrel Ford, Yvette Chevalier, Teresa Cragon, Philomena Osemwengie, Sylvia Clark, and Patricia Martin. (Id. ¶¶ 38-54).

Plaintiffs filed the seventy-five-page Complaint in this Court on April 13, 2010, listing the following twelve nominal claims: (1)-(2), (11) substantive due process violations pursuant to42 U.S.C. § 1983; (3), (8) violations of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act ("AACWA") pursuant to § 1983; (4), (12) substantive due process violations under the Nevada Constitution; (5) negligence; (6) declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202 that Nevada Revised Statute ("NRS") section 424.090 violates the Supremacy Clause; (7) declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to ...