Babcock v. Tyler
| Decision Date | 06 September 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-3521,88-3521 |
| Citation | 884 F.2d 497 |
| Parties | Rudolph BABCOCK, individually and as guardian for two minor children, Beth Babcock and Erika Babcock; Angela Long; Willis Babcock and Elizabeth Babcock, husband and wife, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Wanda TYLER; Mark Bronson, in their individual capacities, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Owen F. Clarke, Jr., Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Michael E. Grant, Asst. Atty. Gen., Spokane, Wash., for defendants-appellants.
Michael R. Seidl, Bullivant, Houser, Bailey, Pendergrass & Hoffman, Portland, Or., and Robert J. Crotty, Lukins & Annis, Spokane, Wash., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
Before ALARCON and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges, and TASHIMA, District Judge. *
In this case we consider whether Washington Department of Social and Health Services ("DSHS") caseworkers are entitled to absolute immunity. The caseworkers performed investigative and placement services in child dependency proceedings which had been transferred to Washington from Louisiana pursuant to interstate compact. Consistent with a recommendation of the DSHS, the Washington court placed the children in the home of Lee and Janet Michael. Lee Michael sexually abused the children. He had a prior criminal record which included charges of forceable rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. No inquiry was made concerning this criminal record during the caseworkers' investigation. Had it been, the criminal record would have been discovered.
In this ensuing lawsuit which was brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, the district court determined that the caseworkers were not entitled to absolute immunity, denied their motion to dismiss and denied their motion for summary judgment. Relying on principles we articulated in Meyers v. Contra Costa County Dep't of Social Servs., 812 F.2d 1154 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 98, 98 L.Ed.2d 59 (1987), and Coverdell v. Dep't of Social and Health Servs., 834 F.2d 758 (9th Cir.1987), we conclude that the caseworkers are entitled to absolute immunity; and we reverse.
Rudolph and Ann Long Babcock were married in 1970. Their family included four children: Erika and Beth Babcock and Angela and Aryn Long. Ann was the natural mother of all four girls. Aryn and Angela ("the Long girls") were Ann's children from a prior marriage. Rudolph was the natural father of Erika and Beth ("the Babcock girls"). Ann committed suicide in 1978. All four children continued to live with Rudolph. He remarried, but the marriage lasted less than a year. Rudolph was apparently unable to care for the children alone, and in July 1981 the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources obtained an order of dependency which mandated removal of the children from Rudolph's care and custody. Following a four-day hearing, the Louisiana court ordered all four girls placed with Rudolph's parents, Willis and Elizabeth Babcock, who were residents of Richland, Washington. The Louisiana court ordered the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources to transfer the case to Washington. The girls arrived at the elder Babcocks' home in Washington about three weeks later. Rudolph also moved in with his parents.
On October 7, 1981, the Louisiana court ordered Rudolph to leave his parents' home and to reside apart from the girls. He did so, traveling to Wisconsin where he established a new residence. On the same date, the Louisiana court formally relinquished jurisdiction on condition that Washington accept jurisdiction of the case.
On November 5, 1981, the Washington DSHS requested and obtained from the Washington juvenile court an order by which Washington accepted jurisdiction. The Washington court order contained recitals that it was based on a finding of dependency having been made by the Louisiana court; a dispositional order having been entered by the Louisiana court placing the children with the elder Babcocks in the State of Washington; appropriate interstate compact proceedings having been instituted by Louisiana; the Washington court's review of the case record to the date of its order; and the agreement of the parties.
Following Washington's acceptance of jurisdiction, a dependency disposition hearing was held in the Washington juvenile court on March 31, 1982. Rudolph Babcock obtained a continuance of the hearing as to the Babcock girls. The court entered a "temporary order" placing the Long girls in the home of Lee and Janet Michael. Janet Michael is the sister of the Long girls' natural mother, Ann Long Babcock.
Meanwhile, back in February 1982, Rudolph Babcock had removed the Babcock girls from his parents' home, taking them to his new home in Wisconsin. A Wisconsin court granted full faith and credit to a Washington order of requisition and remanded the Babcock girls to the custody of the Washington DSHS. The Babcock girls returned to Washington on April 19, 1982. By that time the Long girls had been placed in the home of Lee and Janet Michael. Washington caseworker Mark Bronson, acting without a court order, placed the Babcock girls there as well.
On May 4, 1982, a second hearing was held before the Washington juvenile court in the Long/Babcock girls' case. In her report, Wanda Tyler, a DSHS caseworker, recommended that all four girls remain with the Michaels. Rudolph objected to this recommendation, and the case was continued for further hearing. Pending the continuance, the court determined that the girls should remain with the Michaels.
The record indicates that several hearings were held thereafter as Rudolph Babcock continued his efforts to regain custody of his daughters. These efforts proved unsuccessful. As late as September 1983, the Washington DSHS reported that the girls were "fitting in very well" in the Michaels' home, and counselors who conducted psychological examinations were convinced that the girls were experiencing family stability. The Long and Babcock girls remained in the Michaels' home until October 1983, when it was discovered that Lee Michael had sexually abused all four girls, in addition to his own daughter. Lee Michael was arrested and subsequently convicted on three counts of statutory rape and two counts of indecent liberties. He is presently serving a 55-year sentence. 1
In 1984, Rudolph Babcock, on behalf of himself and the two Babcock girls, and Angela Long, one of the Long girls, filed in the district court a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against Washington DSHS caseworkers Wanda Tyler and Mark Bronson. 2 The plaintiffs alleged deprivation of their first amendment right of family association, violation of the children's fourteenth amendment liberty interests in being free from harm while in the state's custody, and violation of fourteenth amendment liberty interests which the plaintiffs claimed existed by virtue of Washington statutes that require the DSHS to provide family reunification services. 3
In February 1986, defendants Tyler and Bronson filed a motion in the district court to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaint on the ground of absolute immunity. The district court denied the motion. Subsequently, we decided Meyers and Coverdell. In 1988, Tyler and Bronson moved for summary judgment. They contended they were entitled to absolute immunity, as well as qualified immunity. The district court ruled on the defendants' motion for summary judgment in its order dated January 11, 1988. In that order, it also reconsidered its earlier ruling by which it had denied the defendants' motion to dismiss on the basis of absolute immunity. The district court's reconsideration of its earlier order was prompted by our decisions in Meyers and Coverdell. The district court denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment, and refused to dismiss the case on the ground of absolute immunity.
Tyler and Bronson appeal from the district court's January 11, 1988 order. The plaintiffs move to dismiss the appeal on the ground that it is not timely as to the issue of absolute immunity, because, they contend, the 1986 order which initially denied the motion to dismiss is the order from which an appeal of the absolute immunity ruling should have been taken, and as to that order the appeal is untimely; and in any event, they argue, the appeal of the January 11, 1988 order is an impermissible appeal from an interlocutory order.
We deny the motion to dismiss the appeal. In making its January 11, 1988 order, the district court reconsidered its earlier 1986 order and reached the merits of the caseworkers' claim to absolute immunity. Reconsideration was appropriate in view of the intervening Meyers and Coverdell decisions as the district court discussed in its January 11, 1988 order. See Kennedy v. LeFebvre, 847 F.2d 482, 483 (8th Cir.1988). Having reconsidered the merits of the defendants' claim to absolute immunity, the district court rejected the defense, resolved the issue against the defendants, and denied the motion for summary judgment. Thus, the appeal from the January 11, 1988 order raises the issue of the defendants' entitlement to absolute immunity, and the appeal is timely. 4
With regard to the plaintiffs' argument that this appeal is not taken from a final judgment, we agree this is the posture of the case. However, a district court's "denial of a substantial claim of absolute immunity is an order appealable before final judgment, for the essence of absolute immunity is its possessor's entitlement not to have to answer for his conduct in a civil damages action." Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 525, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2815, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). The plaintiffs argue that Mitchell permits an appeal from an interlocutory order denying absolute immunity only if the issue being appealed is a "purely legal" one...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
K.H. Through Murphy v. Morgan
... ... Babcock v. Tyler, 884 F.2d 497 (9th Cir.1989). This is not such a case--there was a juvenile court proceeding, but the defendants have not pointed to any ... ...
-
Millspaugh v. WABASH CTY. DEPT. OF PUBLIC WELFARE
... ... 1093 (W.D.N.Y.1983), while other courts have given qualified immunity to those administrative and investigative functions of case workers, Babcock v. Taylor, 884 F.2d 497 (9th Cir.1989) cert. denied ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1118, 107 L.Ed.2d 1025 (1990); J.H.H. v. O'Hara, 878 F.2d 240 (8th ... ...
-
Collins on Behalf of Collins v. Tabet
... ... 893 (1990) (independent, court-appointed psychologist); Seibel v. Kemble, 63 Haw. 516, 631 P.2d 173 (1981) (same); Babcock v. Tyler, 884 F.2d 497 (9th Cir.1989) (social worker), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1118, 107 ... [111 N.M. 397] L.Ed.2d 1025 (1990); ... ...
-
Proctor v. Dept. of Health
... ... City of Tyler v. Likes, 962 S.W.2d 489, 501 (Tex.1997). The court in City of Tyler opined: ... Page 507 ... The duties of the municipal ... In Babcock v. Tyler, 884 F.2d 497 (9th Cir.1989), a father sued the state for the actions of two social workers who placed his daughters in a home where they ... ...
-
Where the Reason Stops: Babcock v. State Establishes an Unjustified Immunity for Foster-care Placement
...Monitor, Sept. 27, 1988, at B2, col. 1. 2. Babcock v. State, 112 Wash. 2d 83, 768 P.2d 481 (1989); later proceeding, Babcock v. Tyler, 884 F.2d 497 (9th Cir. 3. Babcock, 112 Wash. 2d at 104, 768 P.2d at 493. 4. Id. 5. See Block, Stump v. Sparkman and the History of Judicial Immunity, 1980 D......