Marr ex rel. Marr v. Schofield, No. CIV. 01-224-B-C.

• Decision Date: 02 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 01-224-B-C.
• Citation: 307 F.Supp.2d 130
• Parties: Logan MARR, by her Personal Representative, Christy MARR, and Christy Marr, Plaintiffs, v. Sally SCHOFIELD, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

307 F.Supp.2d 130

Logan MARR, by her Personal Representative, Christy MARR, and Christy Marr, Plaintiffs, v. Sally SCHOFIELD, Defendant.

No. CIV. 01-224-B-C.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

March 2, 2004.

Charles Clifton Fuller, III, the Attorneys Office, P.A., Belfast, ME, Ferdinand A. Slater, Ellsworth, ME, for Plaintiffs.

Andrew S. Hagler, Fort Andross, Brunswick, ME, Charles A. Harvey, Jr., Harvey & Frank, Robert S. Frank, Harvey & Frank, Edward R. Benjamin, Jr., Thompson & Bowie, Portland, ME, William R. Fisher, Attorney General's Office, Augusta, ME, Jonathan W. Brogan, Norman, Hanson & Detroy, Portland, ME, E. James Burke, Hark & Andrucki, Lewiston, ME, Thad B. Zmistowski, Eaton Peabody, Bangor, Barri L. Bloom, Richardson, Whitman, Large & Badger, Portland, ME, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

GENE CARTER, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiff Christy Marr, in her capacity as personal representative of her deceased daughter, Logan Marr ("Logan"), and on her own behalf ("Plaintiff"), filed this suit in 2001, alleging various civil rights violations and state law tort claims.¹ Before the Court now is Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and to Collaterally Estop Defendant Schofield from Re-Litigating Those Facts Found at Trial in Her State Criminal Conviction for Manslaughter, as well as Defendant Sally Schofield's Objection and Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendant's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Docket Item Nos. 46 and 48, respectively). For the reasons set forth below, with respect to Plaintiff's § 1983 claims (Counts I, II, V, and IX), the Court will deny Plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment and grant Defendant's motion for partial summary judgment. Further, the Court will decline to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over Counts XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII and dismiss them without prejudice.

I. Facts

The undisputed facts before the Court on these summary judgment motions are as follows. In 2000, Sally and Dean Schofield went through the process of obtaining approval to adopt two children through the Maine Department of Human Services. Defendant's Statement of Additional Material Facts ¶ 1. The Schofields received approval to adopt two children, but they did not apply for or obtain a license to be a foster family. Id. ¶ 2. Logan and Bailey Marr were placed with the Schofields as foster children, and the Schofields' intent was to adopt them if and when the Department of Human Services obtained a termination of parental rights. Id. ¶ 3. At the time of Logan's death, she and Bailey were still foster children. Id. The State of Maine did not pay the Schofields to be foster parents; they received a per diem board rate payment, reimbursement for child care expenses, and an allowance for clothing. Id. ¶ 4. The State also paid the girls' medical expenses. Id. This was the only money that the Schofields received from the State. Id. As foster parents, the Schofields had guidelines from the State regarding the care of the girls, but the State did not supervise or control their care of the girls. Id. ¶ 5.

Logan Marr is dead. Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts ("PSMF") ¶ 5. Defendant was charged by indictment with murder (depraved indifference, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(B) (1983)) and manslaughter (reckless or criminal negligence, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 203(1)(A), Class A (1983)) in Kennebec County Superior Court arising out the death of Logan Marr at Defendant's home in Chelsea, Maine on January 31, 2001. Id. ¶ 1. Defendant waived jury trial, and the matter was tried before Justice Thomas Delahanty beginning on June 18, 2002. Id. ¶ 3. Defendant was acquitted of the murder charge. Id. With respect to the manslaughter charge, the burden at trial was on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant was guilty of causing Logan's death by reckless or criminally negligent conduct. Id. ¶ 4. Justice Delahanty found that:

The defendant was clearly aware of her responsibilities and limitations and consciously disregarded a risk that her conduct would cause harm to Logan, including serious injury or even death. She was fully aware of the attendant circumstances and the risk that her conduct presented and consciously disregarded that risk. [T]his court has no difficulty finding that Ms. Schofield's conduct was a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable and prudent person would observe in the same situation.

Id. ¶ 11. Justice Delahanty further held that the prosecution had "proven beyond a reasonable doubt that, even though the nose was not totally blocked by tape, Logan Marr died as a result of asphyxia that was directly caused by the reckless conduct of the defendant." Id. ¶ 12. On June 25, 2002, Defendant was found by a judgment of the Kennebec County Superior Court to have caused the death of Logan Marr and was convicted of the offense of manslaughter under Maine law. Id. ¶¶ 13-14 and Ex. A at 10.

II. Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate if the record shows "that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). An issue is "genuine" if, based on the record evidence, a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). "`Material' means that a contested fact has the potential to change the outcome of the suit under the governing law if the dispute over it is resolved favorably to the nonmovant." McCarthy v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 56 F.3d 313, 315 (1st Cir.1995) (citations omitted). The party moving for summary judgment must demonstrate an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In determining whether this burden has been met, the court must view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and give that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences in its favor. Nicolo v. Philip Morris, Inc., 201 F.3d 29, 33 (1st Cir.2000). Once the moving party has made a preliminary showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists, the nonmovant must "produce specific facts, in suitable evidentiary form, to establish the presence of a trialworthy issue." Triangle Trading Co. v. Robroy Indus., Inc., 200 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir.1999) (citation and internal punctuation omitted); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). Cross motions for summary judgment do not alter the basic standard for summary judgment; rather, they require the court to determine whether either of the parties deserves judgment as a matter of law on the undisputed facts. Adria Int'l Group, Inc. v. Ferre Dev., Inc., 241 F.3d 103, 107 (1st Cir.2001).

III. Discussion

Plaintiff moves for summary judgment on her remaining counts and seeks an order from this Court that Defendant is collaterally estopped from litigating those facts found by the Kennebec County Superior Court in her criminal trial. It is Plaintiff's position that the Kennebec County Superior Court found, beyond a reasonable doubt, all of the undisputed facts necessary to prove the remaining counts against Defendant, and Plaintiff asserts that she is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law with respect to Defendant's liability on all of her remaining counts. Defendant argues in the first instance that she is entitled to summary judgment on Counts I, II, V, and IX, which set forth claims for civil rights violations under § 1983, because Defendant is not a state actor. Further, Defendant opposes Plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, arguing that only matters that were actually litigated and necessarily decided in the criminal trial are entitled to the effects of collateral estoppel in this case. Defendant asserts that the manslaughter conviction left open many of the factual issues necessary to Plaintiff's success on the remaining counts in this case.

The Court first addresses Defendant's motion for partial summary judgment on the ground that Defendant is not a state actor and concludes that Defendant is entitled to partial summary judgment on this basis. The Court will not reach the parties' substantive arguments regarding Plaintiff's state law claims because, having disposed of Plaintiff's federal claims, the Court will decline to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over these claims.

A. State Action

Counts I, II, V, and IX arise under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983, which permits plaintiffs to seek redress for "deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws." 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983. To succeed on a § 1983 claim, the plaintiff must show that the deprivation was caused by a person acting "under the color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia." Id. Because § 1983 is aimed at state actors, "persons victimized by the tortious conduct of private parties must ordinarily explore other avenues of redress." Roche v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., 81 F.3d 249, 253 (1st Cir.1996). "To be sure, the rule is not absolute: private actors may align themselves so closely with either state action or state actors that the undertow pulls them inexorably into the grasp of § 1983." Id. at 253-54.

The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit looks to several different doctrines to evaluate whether a private party's conduct falls under the color of state law, and these doctrines have been summarized in Howard v. Malac, 270 F.Supp.2d 132 (D.Mass.2003). In Howard, the court wrote:

The First Circuit has recognized the following specific doctrines under which a private actor can be considered a state actor: (1) the public function doctrine, under which a private entity is deemed a state actor if it is performing an exclusively...