Morrison v. Jones
| Decision Date | 19 October 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-1066,77-1066 |
| Citation | 607 F.2d 1269 |
| Parties | Waltruent Margarete Rosa MORRISON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William E. JONES, Donald L. Schroeder, Clayton Record, A. A. Younglove, Byron C. Morton, District Attorney for the County of Riverside, Paul R. Wiley, Director, and the Department of Public Social Services for the County of Riverside, Donald D. Sullivan, Clerk of the Superior Court for the County of Riverside, Edward T. Himento, M.D., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Edison P. McDaniels, San Bernardino, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant.
Joyce Manulis Reikes, Riverside, Cal., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Before BRIGHT, * HUFSTEDLER and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
Morrison brought this civil rights action (42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983) against the Board of Supervisors of the County of Riverside ("Board") and other named county officials who caused her minor son, Michael, a dependent ward of the Juvenile Court, to be transported to Germany, in violation of her constitutional rights. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the ground that each of the defendants was immune from liability. The defendants reassert their claims to immunity, and they argue, in addition, that Morrison had no standing to maintain the action, that she failed to exhaust her state remedies, that exclusive jurisdiction resided in the state court system, and that her amended complaint stated no claim for relief. We affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Byron C. Morton, District Attorney, and Donald D. Sullivan, Clerk of the Superior Court, because both of them, under the circumstances of this case, are protected by absolute quasi-judicial immunity. We reverse summary judgment in favor of the remaining defendants.
Morrison is a German alien married to an American citizen. Her natural son Michael, is also a German alien. On July 16, 1970, when Michael was eight years old, he was sent by his grandparents, with whom he was living, to reside with his mother. From that time until his return to Germany, Michael was a lawful resident of the United States. According to Morrison, Michael was ill when he arrived. He "didn't play, sat for hours, paced in a square, weighed 38 pounds; . . . and was not taught to dress himself . . . ."
On November 11, 1972, Morrison had Michael admitted to the Children's Psychiatric Unit at Riverside General Hospital ("Hospital"), where the child was diagnosed as suffering from childhood schizophrenia with severe nutritional and emotional deprivation. On several occasions after his commitment, Morrison tried unsuccessfully to remove Michael from the care of the Hospital.
In December, 1972, the Hospital caused a petition to be filed in the California Superior Court, Riverside County, Juvenile Department, alleging that Michael was in need of proper care and control and that he had no parent capable of providing care and control. The record before us does not indicate the grounds supporting the dependency petition. On January 12, 1973, after notice to Morrison and a hearing, Michael was adjudged a dependent child of the court pursuant to section 600(a) of the California Welfare and Institutions Code. Michael was placed by a court order at the Children's Psychiatric Unit of the Hospital.
Morrison continued her efforts to recover custody of the child and to remove him from the Hospital. During the course of successive review hearings, commencing on July 13, 1973, the antagonism between Morrison and David W. Swan, a social worker for the Department of Public Social Services, became evident. 1 In each of these review proceedings, Michael was continued as a ward of the court and his placement remained at the Hospital.
Michael was briefly returned to his mother, but upon the report that Michael's physical condition had deteriorated, Michael was removed from his mother's home on November 8, 1974. At a hearing shortly after Michael's return to the Hospital, Mr. Swan reported to the court that the hospital staff was In the Juvenile Court's order recommitting Michael to the Hospital, the court included, as an alternative to placement in the Hospital, residence with Michael's grandparents in Germany. 2
On March 25, 1975, the Director of Public Social Services requested the County Board of Supervisors for Riverside County to approve funds to transport Michael, accompanied by an adult, to Germany. The Board approved the travel request and continued the fund transfer portion of the request until April 1, 1975, at which time the transfer of the necessary funds for transportation of the dependent child, and an adult companion, was authorized by the Board. No notice of either of these actions was ever given to Morrison by the Board.
According to Morrison, she first learned that county officials were going to transport her child to Germany when she read a newspaper story in the Riverside Daily Enterprise, dateline March 27, 1975, entitled "Youngster's Illness to Bring First Paid Trip Abroad by County Employe (sic)." 3
After she read the newspaper article, Morrison for the first time obtained a lawyer, who filed on her behalf a writ of prohibition with the Superior Court of the County of Riverside to prevent Michael's deportation. The alternative writ was granted on April 3, 1975, directing Mr. Wiley to "desist and refrain from any further proceedings in the said action . . . until further order of this court thereon . . . ." A hearing date was set for consideration of Morrison's request for modification of the December 27, 1974, dependency order. The cause was set for a contested hearing on May 1, 1975. The court also ordered a stay of the prior court order, permitting Michael's placement in Germany, until completion of the hearing scheduled for May 1, 1975, and until further order of the court. Because the prior petition for a writ of prohibition thereby became moot, the petition for the writ was dismissed.
The contested hearing was held on May 1, 1975, before Judge Gerald F. Schulte, juvenile court judge. On May 5, 1975, Judge Schulte denied Morrison's motion for termination of dependency and for physical custody of Michael. Neither Morrison nor her lawyer was given any notice of the May 5, 1975, order. On May 9, 1975, Michael was transported to Germany. Morrison first learned that Michael had been sent to Germany when she received a note signed by Mr. Swan of the Department of Public Social Services which, in its entirety, states: "This letter is to notify you that on Friday, May 9, 1975, Michael left the hospital to return to his grandparents' home in Germany."
Morrison filed a timely notice of appeal from the order of May 5, 1975. The appeal was later voluntarily dismissed.
Morrison filed this action in the district court on August 21, 1975, and she filed an amended complaint on November 26, 1975. The named defendants are William E. Jones, Donald L. Schroeder, Clayton Record, A. A. McCandless, and A. Norton Younglove, all members of the Board; Paul R. Wiley, Director, Department of Public Social Services for the County of Riverside; Byron C. Morton, District Attorney for the County of Riverside; Donald D. Sullivan, Clerk of the Superior Court for the County of Riverside; Department of Public Social Services for the County of Riverside; and Edward T. Himeno, M.D., Director of Child Psychiatry of the In-Patient Unit, Riverside General Hospital.
The district court correctly granted summary judgment in favor of the District Attorney, Byron C. Morton, and the Clerk of the Superior Court, Donald D. Sullivan. The record reveals that Morton's only participation in the events of which Morrison complains was the presentation of evidence at the contested hearing on May 1, 1975. He is clothed with absolute quasi-judicial immunity because his "challenged activities (were) an 'integral part of the judicial process.' " Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976).
No averments of the amended complaint, supported by any evidence in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, charged Donald D. Sullivan, Clerk of the Superior Court, with any act or omission that caused injury to Morrison. At best, she has charged him with some kind of responsibility for her failure to receive notice of the May 5, 1975, order. His failure, if any, to perform a ministerial duty which was a part of judicial process is also clothed with quasi-judicial immunity. Cf. Denman v. Leedy, 479 F.2d 1097 (6th Cir. 1973); Smith v. Rosenbaum, 460 F.2d 1019 (3d Cir. 1972). See also Schuman v. State of California, 584 F.2d 868 (9th Cir. 1978); Gillibeau v. City of Richmond, 417 F.2d 426, 429 n.4 (9th Cir. 1969). Cf. Stewart v. Minnick, 409 F.2d 826 (9th Cir. 1969). 4
We cannot sustain the district court's holding that the remaining defendants were immune.
When the district court ruled that the Department of Social Services for the County of Riverside was immune from civil rights liability, the district court did not have the benefit of Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). The Supreme Court held that local governmental bodies were not wholly immune from section 1983 liability. The Court also observed that state law immunities, upon which the district court relied, cannot override a section 1983 cause of action. See also Donovan v....
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