J.R. v. Gloria

• Decision Date: 27 January 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-1404.,09-1404.
• Parties: J.R., a minor, P.P.A. Molly Raymond; Molly Raymond; B.R., a minor, P.P.A. Molly Raymond, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Margaret GLORIA; Stephanie Terry; State of Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

593 F.3d 73 J.R., a minor, P.P.A. Molly Raymond; Molly Raymond; B.R., a minor, P.P.A. Molly Raymond, Plaintiffs, Appellants,
v.
Margaret GLORIA; Stephanie Terry; State of Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Defendants, Appellees. No. 09-1404. United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit. Heard December 9, 2009. Decided January 27, 2010.

[593 F.3d 75]

Thomas L. Mirza and Pelletier & Mirza, LLP were on brief for appellants.

Genevieve M. Allaire Johnson, Special Assistant Attorney General, with whom Patrick C. Lynch, Attorney General, were on brief for appellees.

[593 F.3d 76]

Before LYNCH, Chief Judge, LIPEZ and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.

LYNCH, Chief Judge.

This is one of several cases before this court claiming that the state of Rhode Island has failed to protect children in its care.

Plaintiffs, a family whose twins were in foster care, here appeal from the district court's grant during trial of a Rule 50(a) motion for judgment as a matter of law to the defendants, Margaret Gloria, a social worker for the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), and Stephanie Terry, her supervisor. See J.R. v. Gloria, 599 F.Supp.2d 182, 205 (D.R.I.2009).

Plaintiffs J.R. and B.R., twin boys and minors, and their mother, Molly Raymond, brought substantive due process claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law claims under Rhode Island negligence law for damages against the two state DCYF officials. Plaintiffs allege that when the twins were living in foster care between November 1996 and May 1998, from the ages of four to five, they were physically and sexually abused by Samuel "Thinman" Stevens, who they say lived in the foster home and acted as the twins' de facto caretaker. They claim this abuse resulted from defendants' actionable failures to comply with state law requirements.

The question before us is whether the court erred in granting defendants immunity from the federal and state law claims at issue. We hold that the district court properly granted defendants qualified immunity on the § 1983 action and judgment for defendants on state sovereign immunity and qualified immunity defenses under Rhode Island state law. This case also demonstrates the adage that claims based on possible violations of state laws do not necessarily make out claims of violations of federal due process guarantees.

I.

Because this is an appeal from a grant of a Rule 50(a) motion, we recount the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiffs. See Philip v. Cronin, 537 F.3d 26, 32 (1st Cir.2008); see also Jennings v. Jones, 587 F.3d 430, 438 (1st Cir.2009).

J.R. and B.R. were placed in a foster home in Providence, Rhode Island with Faith Sykes and her husband, Marron Smith, in November 1996, when they were four years old. Neither defendant had a role in the placement decision. There is no claim that the twins should not have been placed in foster care or that the initial placement in the Sykes home was inappropriate. Rather, plaintiffs' case turns upon defendants' alleged failure to investigate and prevent the events that are alleged to have occurred during this placement.

Plaintiffs claim that from the time the twins were placed in the Sykes home in November 1996 until they were removed in May 1998, defendant Gloria and others in DCYF knew that two adult men, Samuel Stevens, whom the twins referred to as "Thinman," and William Lovick, whom the twins called "Bobo," were living on the third floor of the Sykes residence.¹ There were also numerous indications that both men, at various points, were acting as the twins' de facto caretakers.² Indeed, Stevens

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was such a regular presence at the Sykes home that Mary Starnes, the assigned DCYF case aide, identified the home with reference to "Thinman" in her notes, and she reported numerous interactions with Stevens to defendant Gloria. Stevens also accompanied Gloria to some of the twins' counseling sessions. Defendant Terry was also aware that Stevens and Lovick were involved in the twins' lives.

DCYF apparently did not ever complete background investigations of either Stevens or Lovick, although DCYF's regulations required the agency to screen any adult resident or regular caretaker in a foster home. See R.I. Dep't of Youth, Children, and Families, State of Rhode Island Foster Care Regulations § II.C, Clearances and Record Checks (1998) [hereinafter "Foster Care Regulations"]. Plaintiffs say that Gloria also told Sykes that both Stevens and Lovick could remain in the home and knew that Sykes depended upon them to help supervise the twins.

Additionally, neither Sykes nor defendants Gloria or Terry ever reported to DCYF's licensing division that these men were residing in the home or that they were acting as caretakers for the twins. DCYF regulations required foster parents to inform the department of any such changes in foster household composition. See Foster Care Regulations §§ V.2; V.Q. In August 1997, DCYF's licensing division nonetheless renewed Sykes's foster home license. Foster home licenses can be revoked if the foster parent fails to notify DCYF of changes in household composition or if the foster parent omits important facts about the foster environment. Id. § III.C.

There were various Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System (CANTS) investigations of the twins' care during their eighteen-month stay in the Sykes home. Two of the reports mentioned Lovick but not Stevens. In March 1997, J.R. told DCYF case aide Starnes that "Bobo" (Lovick) had hit him, but the twins did not answer further questions, and after further investigation, DCYF deemed the report unfounded. In August 1997, a separate investigation mentioning Lovick was initiated when the twins' counselor noticed J.R. had scratch marks on his head and neck. DCYF determined this report was also unfounded after the twins said these injuries came from fighting with each other. DCYF also made a formal finding that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Lovick was improperly supervising the children.

There were also several other reported incidents between the spring and fall of 1997 in which the twins exhibited behavioral problems or physical injuries, including bruises. With the exception of the reports discussed above, none of these reports mentioned either Stevens or Lovick. DCYF determined that none of these reports supported a formal finding of likely abuse.

On May 27, 1998, one of the twins' teachers called the DCYF hotline because she had noticed bruises on their forearms. The twins told a DCYF investigator that the bruises were made when "Thinman" (Stevens) hit them with a belt and that he had done this before. This was the first report mentioning Stevens. The investigator took the twins to the hospital and documented their injuries. DCYF also discovered a belt in the Sykes home in the location the twins had described. DCYF permanently removed the twins from the Sykes home that same day. Following an investigation, DCYF determined that

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there was credible evidence of institutional neglect by Sykes and abuse by Stevens.

In March 1999, some ten months after the twins were removed, the twins' mother and a counselor jointly reported for the first time that B.R. and J.R. had said "Thinman" had sexually abused them. DCYF investigated but determined the report was inconsistent and unfounded. Still, we will assume, in plaintiffs' favor, that the report was correct because the harm it alleges is the foundation of their suit. Since the twins left the Sykes foster home in 1998, they have suffered from a number of severe developmental challenges and have required ongoing institutional care.

Plaintiffs originally sued Gloria and Terry for state law negligence claims in Rhode Island state court in 2001, but they amended the complaint to allege constitutional violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in 2008. Gloria and Terry removed the case to federal court on April 15, 2008. The case proceeded to a jury trial. On November 17, 2008, at the close of plaintiffs' case and after six days of trial during which nineteen witnesses for plaintiffs testified, defendants filed a Rule 50(a) motion for judgment as a matter of law. They asserted, among other grounds, a qualified immunity defense to the § 1983 claim and immunity to the state law negligence claims based on Rhode Island's state sovereign immunity and state qualified immunity law.

In a decision and order dated February 26, 2009, the district court entered judgment for the defendants. J.R., 599 F.Supp.2d at 183. It held that Gloria and Terry were entitled to qualified immunity against the § 1983 claims because plaintiffs' evidence, taking all the inferences in their favor, had not established that there was a substantive due process violation or that such a right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation. Id. at 192-204. It further held that Gloria and Terry were immune from state tort liability for their official conduct because of Rhode Island's state sovereign immunity and that Gloria was entitled to state law qualified immunity from the individual negligence claim. Id. at 204-05.

II.

We review de novo a grant of judgment under...