Dorothy J. v. Little Rock School Dist.

• Citation: 794 F. Supp. 1405
• Decision Date: 28 May 1992
• Docket Number: No. LR-C-91-801.,LR-C-91-801.
• Parties: DOROTHY J., individually and on behalf of Brian B., Plaintiff, v. LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT; Centers for Youth and Families, Bruce Limozaine, individually and in his official capacity as former Administrator of Field Operations Management, Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Corrine Means, individually and in her official capacity as former coordinator on Substitute Care, Permanency Planning Unit, the Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Nancy Marion, individually and in her official capacity as former Social Service Worker II, Permanency Planning Unit, Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Barbara Keaton, individually and in her official capacity as former Social Service Worker II, Permanency Planning Unit, Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Demetria Nesbitt, Chris Jackson, and John Breen, individually and in their official capacities, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas

794 F. Supp. 1405

DOROTHY J., individually and on behalf of Brian B., Plaintiff, v. LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT; Centers for Youth and Families, Bruce Limozaine, individually and in his official capacity as former Administrator of Field Operations Management, Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Corrine Means, individually and in her official capacity as former coordinator on Substitute Care, Permanency Planning Unit, the Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services;

Nancy Marion, individually and in her official capacity as former Social Service Worker II, Permanency Planning Unit, Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Barbara Keaton, individually and in her official capacity as former Social Service Worker II, Permanency Planning Unit, Division of Children and Family Services, Dept. of Human Services; Demetria Nesbitt, Chris Jackson, and John Breen, individually and in their official capacities, Defendants.

No. LR-C-91-801.

United States District Court, E.D. Arkansas, W.D.

May 28, 1992.

Morris W. Thompson, Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiff.

Frederick S. Ursery, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants Chris Jackson, Demetria Nesbitt and Little Rock School Dist.

Bruce P. Hurlbut and Ruth H. Whitney, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants Bruce Limozaine, Corrine Means and Barbara Keaton.

Stuart P. Miller, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants Centers for Youth and Families and John Breen.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SUSAN WEBBER WRIGHT, District Judge.

This case involves an alleged sexual assault committed by a child in legal custody of the State of Arkansas. Dorothy J. claims that her son, Brian B., was sexually molested and raped by a fellow student, Louis C., while attending a special program for mentally-handicapped students at the Little Rock School District's (LRSD) Hall High School. She brings this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the defendants' actions deprived her son of his rights to personal integrity and security under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The defendants can be separated into three groups: (1) Bruce Limozaine, Corrine Means, and Barbara Keaton (DHS defendants);¹ (2) the Centers for Youth and Families and John Breen (Centers defendants); and (3) the Little Rock School District, Demetria Nesbitt, and Chris Jackson (LRSD defendants). Each group has moved to dismiss under to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Dismissal on this ground is warranted only when it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of her claim which would entitle her to relief. Hishon v. King & Spaulding, 467 U.S. 69, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984); May v. C.I.R., 752 F.2d 1301 (8th Cir.1985). For the reasons explained below, the Court finds that the defendants' motions to dismiss should be and hereby are granted.

I.

The facts alleged in the complaint, which must be taken as true when considering the motions to dismiss, are undeniably tragic and evoke much sympathy for this child and his mother. Brian B. was a student in the LRSD Community-Based Instruction (CBI) program, which is designed to teach life and social skills to educable mentally-handicapped children. On October 26, 1989 and again on October 27, 1989, he was sexually assaulted and raped by another student, Louis C., while in class at Hall High School. At the time, Louis C. was a ward of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and had been placed in a foster care program with the Centers for Youth and Families (Centers), a private multiservice agency which derives much of its funding through contracts and grants from governmental agencies such as the DHS.

DHS employees Corrine Means, Nancy Marion, Barbara Keaton, and Bruce Limozaine were responsible for supervision of Louis C. and participated in the decision to place him with the Centers, with Ms. Marion approving his placement in the CBI program. Supervision of Louis C. at the Centers was assigned to employee and case manager John Breen. Demetria Nesbitt and Chris Jackson were employed by the LRSD as a teacher and aide, respectively, in the CBI program, and worked with both Brian B. and Louis C.

The DHS and Centers defendants were aware of Louis C.'s disposition for violence and sexually assaultive behavior, but decided to enroll Louis C. in the CBI program without taking adequate precautions to see that other students in the program were protected. The LRSD defendants also knew of Louis C.'s propensity for such behavior, but allowed the two boys to be left alone unsupervised.

The complaint does not specify when the DHS placed Louis C. with the Centers or when Louis C. initially was enrolled in the CBI program. It appears from the briefs of the plaintiff and the DHS defendants, however, that the alleged rape occurred at least two years after either of these events transpired. See DHS Memorandum Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss at 5-6; Plaintiff's Response to DHS Defendants Motion to Dismiss at 5.

II.

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment says that "no State shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." By its own terms, the clause protects only against such deprivations that can be fairly attributable to the deliberate actions (or inactions) of state or local government.² This avoids imposing on the state, its agencies, or officials, responsibility for conduct for which they cannot fairly be blamed.

Dorothy J. contends that the defendants deprived Brian B. of his liberty interest in being free from "unjustified intrusions on personal security." Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 673, 97 S.Ct. 1401, 1413, 51 L.Ed.2d 711 (1977).³ Liberally read, her complaint asserts two theories of liability under the Due Process Clause. First, she claims that the defendants failed to provide Brian B. with adequate protection against Louis C.'s violent assault. The affirmative duty to protect, she urges, arises from the special custodial relationship created by compulsory school attendance laws, Complaint ¶ 17, or from the special danger posed by placing Louis C. in a class with other handicapped students, Complaint ¶ 18. Second, she claims that Brian B.'s harm was caused by the customs, practices, or policies of the governmental entities. Complaint ¶¶ 20-21.

The DHS defendants say that dismissal of the complaint is warranted because the plaintiff has failed to allege the deprivation of a constitutionally protected interest. They argue that (1) the failure to protect an individual from private violence does not constitute a violation of due process under DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Svcs., 489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989), and (2) Brian B.'s injuries were too remote a consequence of their actions under Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980). They also claim they are entitled to immunity under both state law and the doctrine of qualified immunity. Finally, they contend that the complaint lacks the specificity required to state a claim under section 1983. The Centers defendants likewise ask the Court to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that no affirmative constitutional duty was owed to Brian B. under DeShaney and Harpole v. Arkansas Dep't of Human Services, 820 F.2d 923 (8th Cir. 1987). In addition, the Centers defendants argue that they are not "state actors" as required under section 1983 and that the complaint fails to allege the requisite "state of mind" necessary to sustain a due process violation. They further claim that Dorothy J. cannot sue in her individual capacity unless she alleges that she has been deprived of some liberty or property interest. The LRSD defendants urge dismissal because the allegations in the complaint, even if true, state only a cause of action under state tort law, not the Constitution.

The Court's role in analyzing the plaintiff's substantive due process claim is two-fold. The Court must consider whether Brian B. "possessed a right arising under the fourteenth amendment to be protected by the state from harm inflicted by a third party." Wells v. Walker, 852 F.2d 368, 370 (8th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1012, 109 S.Ct. 1121, 103 L.Ed.2d 184 (1989). If he possessed this right, the Court then must determine "whether the defendants' conduct deprived him of it within the meaning of the due process clause." Id.

III.

This case is different from those involving a teacher's sexual assault on a student. The principal distinction, of course, is that Brian B.'s injuries resulted at the hands of another student rather than from the actions of an employee subject to the government's immediate control. Contrast this, for example, with the facts in Stoneking v. Bradford Area School Dist., 882 F.2d 720 (3rd Cir.1989) (Stoneking II), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1044, 110 S.Ct. 840, 107 L.Ed.2d 835 (1990). In that case, the court held that a school district and its supervisory officials may be liable for a custom, practice, or policy of deliberate indifference to such misconduct by teachers. Both the teacher who perpetrated the assault and the supervisory school officials were "state actors." That is, their actions were deemed to be government actions.⁴

Here, the victim was injured at the hands of a private individual who was neither an agent of the state nor employed by the state. Can it then be said that the state deprived him of his liberty without due process? The Supreme Court addressed this question in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Svcs., 489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989), holding that the government's failure to protect individuals from privately-inflicted wrongs generally cannot violate the Due Process Clause. The guardians of four-year-old Joshua DeShaney sued the Department of Social...