Heartland Academy Community Church v. Waddle, 08-3723.

Citation595 F.3d 798
Decision Date08 February 2010
Docket NumberNo. 08-3723.,08-3723.
PartiesHEARTLAND ACADEMY COMMUNITY CHURCH, a Missouri not-for-profit corporation; CNS International Ministries, Inc., a Missouri not-for-profit corporation; Michael Bounds; Catherine Brown; James Crary; Cheryl Crary; Vicki Sowle; Brad Hampton; Terry Hans; Katherine Hans; Timothy Hans; Leigha Lawson; Toni Lewis; Toniece Sims; Diane Mamell; Nicholas Martinez; Susan McCoy; Chelsea Grinnall; Douglas O'Neill; Julie Roberts-Cole; Karen Roberts Torress, Plaintiffs/Appellees, Elyese Anderson; Russell Ayers; Cody Ayers; Michael J. Armstrong; Mary Alvesteffer; Jovani Bajana; Gordon Bold; Norma Bold; Christina Bold; Robert Bounds; Nancy Bounds; Jay Braun; Joseph Braun; James Brownfield; David Christensen; Becky Christensen; Jenna Christensen; Courtney Collins; Samantha Crary; Tyler Davis; Anthony Franklin; Catherine Franklin; Moriah Garza; Martha Hampton; Carolyn Hildebrand; Nicole Ward; Shawn Jarnigan; Tom Jarnigan; Donnie Johns; Carolyn Johns; Jonathan Johns; Jesse Mamell; Jennifer Martinez; Nicole Martinez; Paula McKinney; Richard Pollitt; Susan Pollitt; Jane White, Plaintiffs, v. Michael WADDLE, in his individual and official capacities; Jeff Hall, in his individual and official capacities; Cindy Ayers, in her individual and official capacities; Dana Martin, in her individual and official capacities; Denise Cross, in her individual and official capacities; Jerrie Jacobs-Kenner, in her individual and official capacities; Christine White, in her individual and official capacities; Donna Rohrbach, in her individual and official capacities; Pam McGowan, in her individual and official capacities; James Harrison, in his individual and official capacities; Mac Abernathy, in his individual and official capacities; Richard Engelhardt, in his individual and official capacities, Defendants/Appellants.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Christopher J. Quinn, AAG, argued, St. Louis, MO, Diane Peters, AAG, on the brief, Jefferson City, MO, for appellants.

Timothy Belz, argued, St. Louis, MO, Al W. Johnson, on the brief, for appellee.

Before MURPHY, JOHN R. GIBSON, and RILEY, Circuit Judges.

RILEY, Circuit Judge.

This interlocutory appeal is the latest battle in a nearly decade-old conflict between Heartland Christian Academy (HCA) and the State of Missouri. The two not-for-profit corporations that own and operate HCA, Heartland Academy Community Church (HACC) and CNS International Ministries, Inc. (CNS), six former HCA students (Students), and thirteen parents of former HCA students (Parents) (collectively, Heartland) are suing twelve Missouri juvenile officials (Officials) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.1 Heartland alleges the Officials conspired to raid HCA's campus and seize scores of its students in 2001, in violation of the United States Constitution. The Officials maintain they are entitled to qualified immunity, but the district court2 denied their motions for summary judgment. To the extent we have jurisdiction over the Officials' interlocutory appeal, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND
A. Allegations Against the Officials

Viewed in the light most favorable to Heartland, see, e.g., Brown v. City of Golden Valley, 574 F.3d 491, 495-96 (8th Cir. 2009), the facts3 are these:

The Officials participated in a conspiracy to harass and intimidate HCA, a Christian faith-based boarding school in northeastern Missouri. HCA educates and provides social services to children with behavioral and substance abuse problems. As of 2001, approximately 120 of HCA's 220 students lived on HCA's campus.

Two of the conspiracy's more prominent members were Chief Juvenile Officers Michael Waddle (Waddle) and Cindy Ayers (Ayers). Waddle, the conspiracy's ringleader, disliked HCA because (1) HCA was unlicensed (legally), (2) Waddle disagreed with HACC's teachings, and (3) Waddle believed HCA had not acted "very Christ-like." Ayers complained HCA was "growing too fast," and expressed the view that "there [were] people everywhere at [HCA], including children from foreign countries," and Missouri should slow or "put a stop" to HCA.

The charged conspiracy reached its nadir on October 30, 2001, when juvenile authorities and armed law enforcement officers, 30 total, arrived at HCA's campus and removed 115 of its students. The Officials did not provide any notice to Heartland of the removal until the last possible moment. Waddle and Ayers procured ex parte orders from local juvenile court judges to remove HCA's students. Waddle and Ayers used false misrepresentations to obtain the ex parte removal orders. The juvenile court judges issued the ex parte orders under the false impressions (1) all HCA students were in imminent danger of physical harm, (2) HCA was unwilling to cooperate with the relevant juvenile authorities, and (3) no lesser alternative short of a mass removal was available to ensure the students' safety.

The ex parte orders were rife with error, because Waddle and Ayers knowingly presented the juvenile court judges with stale information about HCA's student body. As a direct consequence, those conducting the raid lacked ex parte orders for dozens of the children they removed. Yet they possessed ex parte orders for approximately forty children who no longer lived at HCA and four adults over whom the juvenile judges lacked jurisdiction.

Members of the conspiracy, together with others, detained the HCA students at local facilities until the students' parents retrieved them. When the parents arrived at the detention facilities — sometimes several days after the raid and from far-flung locations — the parents received stern letters advising the parents to keep their children away from HCA. The letters suggested the return of a child to HCA might result in the parents' loss of custody of their children or referral to law enforcement authorities.

The juvenile court judges scheduled post-removal detention hearings, but Waddle and Ayers preemptively moved to dismiss the underlying juvenile court cases as soon as the parents picked up their children. All cases were eventually dismissed, the judges never held any hearings, and the propriety of the raid was never litigated in juvenile court.

After the hearings were cancelled and the juvenile court cases dismissed, the Officials tried to cover up their misdeeds. They spread false and misleading information to the press and politicians alike. For example, Dana Martin (Martin), Director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, sent a letter to a Missouri state representative. In the letter, Martin falsely stated (1) the Missouri Division of Family Services (DFS) had received "numerous reports of child abuse and neglect [at HCA] dating back to 1998"; (2) DFS "made many attempts to resolve concerns with [HCA] from March 2001 until the eventual removal of the children in October"; (3) no DFS personnel participated in the mass removal; and (4) a HCA staff member had pled guilty to beating a child.

B. Legal Wrangling
1. Equitable Relief Case

In July 2001, months before the raid, HACC and CNS (collectively, Heartland Corporations) filed a lawsuit (Equitable Relief Case) in the district court4 against Waddle and others. Heartland Corporations asked for a permanent injunction to stem an alleged campaign to harass and intimidate HCA, its employees and students and their families.

Shortly after the raid, Heartland Corporations asked the district court for emergency equitable relief to prevent Waddle from carrying out another raid absent certain safeguards, including notice and hearings for affected parties. The district court issued a preliminary injunction. Among other things, the court forbade Waddle "from seeking or participating in any pre-hearing removal of all boarding children from HCA unless all boarding children at HCA are directly involved in the underlying facts that serve as the basis for such removal." We affirmed the preliminary injunction in 2003. See generally Heartland Acad. Cmty. Church v. Waddle, 335 F.3d 684, 688, 691 (8th Cir.2003).

The district court then presided over a bench trial on Heartland Corporations' request for a permanent injunction against Waddle and Ayers.5 The district court held (1) Waddle and Ayers violated and conspired to violate Heartland Corporations' Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable seizures; (2) Waddle and Ayers violated Heartland Corporations' Fourteenth Amendment procedural and substantive due process rights; and (3) Waddle violated Heartland Corporations' First Amendment rights to free association. The district court permanently enjoined Waddle from "caus[ing] or attempt[ing] to cause the pre-notice or prehearing removal of or tak[ing] into protective custody ... children from [HCA] without reasonable cause to believe that each child for whom protective custody or removal is sought is in imminent danger[.]" The district court found Waddle "appear[ed] ready and willing to once again remove the children from [HCA]." The court declined to enjoin Ayers, however, because the court found she "expresse[d] no intention of engaging in such behavior in the future[.]" We affirmed the permanent injunction in 2005. See generally Heartland Acad. Cmty. Church v Waddle, 427 F.3d 525, 537 (8th Cir.2005) (Heartland II), aff'g 317 F.Supp.2d 984 (E.D.Mo.2004).

2. Present Lawsuit for Damages

In 2006, Heartland sued the Officials in their individual capacities for monetary damages.6 Counts I through VI are § 1983 claims. In Count I, the Students and Parents allege the Officials violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights to family integrity. In Count II, the Students allege the Officials violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable seizures. In Count III, the Students and Parents claim the Officials violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to free association. In Count IV, the Students and Parents claim the Officials...

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