Coverdell v. Department of Social and Health Services, State of Wash.

• Decision Date: 09 October 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-3825,86-3825
• Citation: 834 F.2d 758
• Parties: Alice COVERDELL, acting on her own behalf and as the natural guardian of her daughter, Christina Robyn Coverdell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES, STATE OF WASHINGTON; Barbara McLaughlin; Laura Langston; and Albert J. Golden, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 758

834 F.2d 758

10 Fed.R.Serv.3d 143

Alice COVERDELL, acting on her own behalf and as the natural guardian of her daughter, Christina Robyn Coverdell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES, STATE OF WASHINGTON; Barbara McLaughlin; Laura Langston and Albert J. Golden, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 86-3825.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 9, 1987 ^*.

Decided Dec. 15, 1987.

William F. Etter, Spokane, Wash., and Aaron Horowitz, Dayton, Wash., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Kenneth O. Eikenberry and H. Andrew Saller, Jr., Olympia, Wash., and Thomas M. Roberts, Spokane, Wash., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

Before GOODWIN, ALARCON and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.

ALARCON, Circuit Judge:

This appeal raises the following issues: (1) Did the district court err in dismissing plaintiff's complaint for damages under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982) against a state-employed child protective services worker, on the ground that the worker enjoyed absolute immunity from liability for her actions in seeking, obtaining, and executing an ex parte court order directing that plaintiff's newborn daughter be seized from the hospital and placed in temporary shelter care? (2) Did the district court err in dismissing plaintiff's complaint for injunctive relief against the worker on the ground that the complaint was moot? (3) Did the district court err in dismissing plaintiff's claim for damages under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1985 (1982) against the foster mother of plaintiff's child, on the ground that the record contained no evidence that defendant had acted with a racial or class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus, notwithstanding that defendant's motion for summary judgment was unaccompanied by any supporting materials?

Although our reasoning diverges in certain respects from that employed by the district court, we conclude that the result reached by the district court on each issue was correct. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's judgment. We deny appellees' request for attorney's fees on this appeal.

I. FACTS

Defendant-appellee Barbara McLaughlin (McLaughlin) was employed as a child protective services (CPS) worker by defendant-appellee The Department of Social and Health Services, State of Washington (DSHS). Her duties included investigating and reporting cases of alleged child abuse and neglect. Prior to September 1978, a fellow CPS worker informed McLaughlin that plaintiff-appellant Alice Coverdell (Coverdell) had moved into McLaughlin's service region, that Coverdell was pregnant with her third child, and that the court had already terminated Coverdell's parental rights to her eldest child. Coverdell's rights were terminated because she and her husband, Roscoe, were emotionally unstable, easily angered, violent, and a danger to the child.

After receiving this information, McLaughlin attempted to visit the Coverdell residence to determine whether conditions there were suitable for the expected child. Coverdell denied McLaughlin admission to the residence.

The expected child, Christina, was born on September 27, 1978. Later that day, McLaughlin received a telephone call from an employee of the hospital at which Coverdell was confined. The employee informed McLaughlin that Coverdell had given birth to a girl and that Coverdell had requested that the hospital refrain from notifying DSHS of the birth.

The following day, September 28, 1978, McLaughlin provided the Columbia County Prosecutor with an affidavit stating that the court had previously deprived Roscoe and Alice Coverdell of permanent custody of their eldest child, Angel, because of hazardous living conditions; that Union County, Oregon was currently seeking to deprive the Coverdells of permanent custody of their second child, James; that McLaughlin had had personal contact with the Coverdells and believed them to be emotionally unstable; that McLaughlin had requested admission to the Coverdell residence but had been denied access; and that McLaughlin believed that the newborn Christina would be in danger if she were to reside with the Coverdells.

The next day, on the basis of McLaughlin's affidavit, the Columbia County Prosecutor filed a motion in state court for an order to take Christina into custody. Coverdell received no notice of the motion, nor was she represented at the hearing. On the same day, the court issued an order authorizing the DSHS to take immediate custody of Christina. The next day, September 30, 1978, McLaughlin executed the court's order by removing Christina from the hospital and placing her in temporary shelter care. On October 27, 1978, the state court ordered that Christina remain in shelter care until further court order.

In March 1980, Coverdell petitioned the state court to regain custody of Christina. At the hearing on the petition, McLaughlin testified in opposition to Christina's placement with Coverdell, as did defendant-appellee Laura Langston (Langston), the foster mother who was then caring for Christina. Langston filed a motion to permit her to intervene in this proceeding and requested a hearing. The court denied these requests but stayed its order pending Langston's appeal. Langston then instituted a separate action in state court seeking custody of Christina.

Shortly after Coverdell filed her petition, DSHS petitioned the court for termination of Coverdell's parental rights to Christina. During the pendency of that proceeding, DSHS did not permit Coverdell to visit with Christina. Coverdell sought and obtained a court order permitting visitation. Langston again filed a motion to intervene and asked for reconsideration of the order permitting Coverdell to visit Christina. Langston's motion was denied. Sometime after Coverdell begain exercising her court ordered visitation rights, Langston reported to DSHS her suspicion that Coverdell had been sexually abusing Christina. In February 1982, after hearings on the matter, Coverdell's visitation rights were terminated by the state court.

The various state court proceedings culminated on December 20, 1984, when the court ordered termination of the parental rights of Alice and Roscoe Coverdell over Christina. That order is now final.

On May 31, 1985, Coverdell filed her Amended and Supplemental Complaint in the present case, alleging that the actions of DSHS and McLaughlin, under color of state law, deprived Coverdell of her rights under the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States. Coverdell further charged that DSHS, McLaughlin, and Langston acted individually and in concert to prevent the return of Christina to Coverdell, thereby denying Coverdell her right to equal protection of the laws and equal privileges and immunities under the law; and that the defendants' actions were predicated on their belief that Coverdell was "of an inferior intellectual capacity and of an inferior personality and otherwise mentally handicapped."

In January 1986, DSHS and McLaughlin filed a joint Motion for Dismissal and/or Summary Judgment. In February 1986, Langston filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. On April 4, 1986, United States Magistrate Smithmoore P. Myers granted both motions and ordered dismissal of Coverdell's complaint without leave to amend. The district court's rulings are addressed in detail below. ¹

II. JURISDICTION

An order dismissing a complaint without leave to amend is final and appealable. ² Preferred Communications, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 754 F.2d 1396, 1399 (9th Cir.1985), aff'd, 476 U.S. 488, 106 S.Ct. 2034, 90 L.Ed.2d 480 (1986). This court has jurisdiction over Coverdell's timely appeal under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291 (1982).

III. DISCUSSION

A. COVERDELL'S CLAIM FOR DAMAGES AGAINST McLAUGHLIN

The district court dismissed Coverdell's claim for damages against McLaughlin on the ground that all McLaughlin's actions were within the scope of her statutory authority, hence she enjoyed absolute quasi-prosecutorial immunity from liability for civil damages. On this appeal, Coverdell argues that the district court erred in ruling that McLaughlin enjoyed absolute immunity. Coverdell contends that McLaughlin enjoyed, at most, qualified immunity, and that a jury should be permitted to decide whether McLaughlin's actions were sufficiently malicious and/or unreasonable to defeat the qualified immunity.

1. Nature of Lower Court's Ruling

The DSHS/McLaughlin motion granted by the district court was styled "Motion for Dismissal Based on Failure to State a Claim, Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Judgment on the Pleadings and/or Summary Judgment." The district court apparently treated the motion as one for dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6).

If a party moving for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) presents to the court matters outside the pleading and such matters are not excluded by the court, then "the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56 ...." Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b). See Fort Vancouver Plywood Co. v. United States, 747 F.2d 547, 552 (9th Cir.1984) (motion to dismiss treated as one for summary judgment where pleadings were accompanied by affidavits).

In moving for dismissal, DSHS and McLaughlin presented to the district court a variety of matters outside the pleadings, including McLaughlin's affidavit, the state court's order directing immediate apprehension of Christina, the state court's findings and order for permanent deprivation in an earlier proceeding concerning another child of Coverdell, and other matters. In ruling on defendants' motion, the district court did not exclude such matters. To the contrary, the court relied upon facts set forth in the materials accompanying the motion.

In substance, therefore, defendants' motion to dismiss was "converted into a motion for summary judgment." Court v. Hall County, 725 F.2d 1170, 1172 (8th Cir.1984) (motion to...