Kovacic v. Cuyahoga County Dep't Of Children And Family Serv.

• Decision Date: 26 May 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-4656.,08-4656.
• Parties: Nancy KOVACIC; Katherine Kovacic, a minor, by and through her Mother, Nancy Kovacic, her guardian and legal custodial parent; Daniel Kovacic, a minor, by and through his Mother, Nancy Kovacic, his guardian and custodial parent, Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEP'T OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES; Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Patricia Campbell Ponstingle; Pam Cameron; Vikki Csornok; Pam Gaylord, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

606 F.3d 301

Nancy KOVACIC; Katherine Kovacic, a minor, by and through her Mother, Nancy Kovacic, her guardian and legal custodial parent; Daniel Kovacic, a minor, by and through his Mother, Nancy Kovacic, his guardian and custodial parent, Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEP'T OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES; Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Patricia Campbell Ponstingle; Pam Cameron; Vikki Csornok; Pam Gaylord, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 08-4656.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued: March 11, 2010.

Decided and Filed: May 26, 2010.

ARGUED: Kenneth D. Myers, Law Offices, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellants. Steven W. Ritz, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Kenneth D. Myers, Law Offices, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellants. Shawn M. Mallamad, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellees.

Before: MERRITT, COOK, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

I.

Plaintiff, Nancy Kovacic, brought this action on behalf of herself and her minor children claiming that their constitutional rights were violated when social workers from the Cuyahoga Department of Children and Family Services, aided by several North Olmsted police officers, entered her home by force and removed her two children, Daniel and Katherine. The children were placed in the temporary custody of the County and were not returned home for 10 months. Based on this conduct, plaintiffs claim that defendants violated the United States Constitution and other federal laws, as well as Ohio law. The primary bases for plaintiffs' claims are that the social workers relied on false information from third parties to effectuate the removal and that the subsequent juvenile court proceedings concerning the removal failed to comport with due process. Plaintiffs also claim that it was error for defendants not to obtain a warrant or other prior judicial approval before removing the children from their mother's custody. More than two and one-half years elapsed between the removal of the children and the commencement of this action in federal court.

The district court did not reach the merits of any of the claims. It found the mother's claims barred by the two-year statute of limitations in Ohio for Section 1983 actions and state law tort claims. The district court then dismissed the children's federal claims under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, finding that the alleged unlawful conduct of Family Services and its social workers was “intertwined” with issues decided by the state-court, thereby barring the district court from hearing the merits of the claims. The district court has not made findings or conclusions on the merits of the constitutional claims, and we must review the factual allegations in the light most favorable to plaintiffs.

Defendant police officers and the City of North Olmsted subsequently settled with plaintiffs, leaving only Cuyahoga County and four social workers who work for the County Department of Children and Family Services as parties to this appeal. The appeal raises two main issues: (1) whether the district court erred in dismissing all of Nancy Kovacic's claims on statute of limitations grounds, and (2) whether the district court erred in finding it lacked jurisdiction over the children's claims under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.

For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the judgment of the district court's dismissal of Nancy Kovacic's claims on statute of limitations grounds. We remand the children's claims to the district court because their federal claims are not barred by Rooker-Feldman and the district court has jurisdiction to hear their claims.

II.

Plaintiff, Nancy Kovacic, divorced her husband, Tom, in 1999. The couple have two children, Katherine and Daniel, who are also named plaintiffs and were minors at the time of their removal from their mother's care in 2002. Nancy had sole legal custody of the children at the time of their removal, but she and her husband were locked in a bitter custody dispute. The Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services and the North Olmsted Police Department had involvement with the family over the years before the removal of the children because Tom and Nancy had accused each other of physical abuse of the children. In particular, after the divorce, Tom's family, including his sister and father, had called the police and Family Services complaining that Nancy was unstable, as well as physically and mentally abusive to her children. Nancy disputes these allegations and claims that Tom's family made false accusations against her so that Tom could gain custody of the children. At the time of the children's removal, the family had been taking part in a county-supervised intervention plan aimed at helping the family to work out problems without violence and conflict.

On March 22, 2002, social worker Patricia Campbell Ponstingle, a defendant in this case, scheduled a “staffing” meeting concerning the Kovacic situation for four days hence-March 26, 2002. A staffing meeting is designed to address family issues in an informal setting and explore possible counseling and therapeutic services available to troubled families. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss specific allegations of physical and emotional abuse occurring within the Kovacic family. One of the stated goals of the meeting was to keep the family intact and there was no discussion or contemplation at that time of removing the children from their mother's care. The staffing meeting was allegedly rescheduled for March 27, 2002, because, according to Family Services, Nancy could not be present on the 26th. She disputes this and claims that she was called on March 26 and told the meeting had been rescheduled to the next day. Whatever the case, Tom Kovacic, his father Ed,¹ his sister Colleen and three officers from the North Olmsted police department showed up at Family Services on March 26 to participate in the staffing meeting. The officers claim they were attending in response to subpoenas issued by Tom Kovacic directing them to attend the meeting. Social worker Ponstingle testified that she and her supervisors, Pam Cameron and Vikki Csornok, met with Tom, his family members and the police as a “professional courtesy,” despite the fact that the mother was not present.

During this meeting, Tom and his family members and the police told the social workers that Nancy's abuse and neglect toward the children was “escalating” and they felt the children were in “imminent risk” of physical harm if they stayed with her. The police officers present at the meeting told Family Services that the mother was acting “more agitated” and “more prone to impulsive behavior” and had the potential to be violent. They also pointed to six police reports concerning her, filed between 1995 and February 28, 2002, a month before the meeting took place. The incidents primarily concerned disputes between Nancy and her ex-husband Tom, or between Nancy and her sister-in-law, Colleen. Based on these reported incidents, the officers stated their belief that Nancy had the potential for violence. She claims all of these allegations are false and each could have been rebutted or explained had she been given the opportunity to do so.

The record reflects that based primarily on the information received from the North Olmsted police officers and, to a lesser extent, the information from Tom Kovacic and his relatives, Family Services determined that the children were at a “greater risk level” and the danger to the children was more “imminent” than they first thought, necessitating immediate removal of the children from their mother. With the approval of her supervisors, Vikki Csornok and Pam Cameron, social worker Ponstingle procured a Temporary Emergency Care Order, which provides legal authority for Family Services to intervene as “officers of the court” and to bring the case immediately under the Juvenile Court's supervision. See O.R.C. § 2151.31. The Temporary Emergency Care Order was authorized by a Standing Order signed by an Administrative Judge of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court on December 13, 1988, 13 years prior to the removal that instigated this lawsuit. The Standing Order, in conjunction with O.R.C. § 2151.31, allowed County social workers to remove children temporarily from a parent's custody without a warrant or other prior judicial approval in situations where Family Services reasonably believed the children faced “imminent risk” of harm. Pre- and post-removal procedures were also included in the Standing Order to safeguard children and parents, such as review of the removal order by a County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney familiar with the case before removal to ensure that the removal met all legal requirements, and the requirement of the filing of a Complaint for Temporary Custody by Family Services by the next business day after removal, as well as a procedure for holding a “probable cause for removal” hearing before a juvenile court magistrate within 72 hours of the removal. See also O.R.C. § 2151.31.

The record reflects that the procedures outlined in the Standing Order and O.R.C. § 2151.31 were followed before the children were removed from their home and their mother's custody. Before obtaining a Temporary Emergency Care Order, Ponstingle first discussed the safety factors and risk situation to the children with the assigned assistant prosecuting attorney for Cuyahoga County, Cheryl Rice-Lane, who was then required to determine whether the statutory standards, guidelines and mandates in place had been met before signing the Temporary Emergency Care Order.

In possession of a valid Temporary Emergency Custody Order, Ponstingle and social worker Susan Peavey, who was not a named defendant in the suit, following the usual custom of their agency, asked the North Olmsted police for help in removing the children from their mother's home. Upon arriving at...