Phifer v. City of New York

• Decision Date: 19 April 2002
• Docket Number: Docket No. 01-7131.
• Citation: 289 F.3d 49
• Parties: Tina PHIFER, for herself and on behalf of her infant daughter, Amkia Phifer, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of the City of New York, in his official and individual capacities, New York City Administration for Children's Services, Children's Aid Society, Nicholas Scopetta, Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children's Services, in his official and individual capacity, Hattie L. Lucas, Director of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Administration for Children's Services, in her official and individual capacities, Delano Saunders, Christine Gabriel, Ellen Lauter, Edward Nichols M.D., The Montefiore Medical Center, Beth Yurdin, Richard Rosencrantz, Dyan Hes, Henry Adams, Paul Levy, William Spivak, Aeri Moon, John Doe, an employee of the aforesaid defendants whose identities are not presently known, and Jane Doe, an employee of the aforesaid defendants whose identities are not presently known, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

289 F.3d 49

Tina PHIFER, for herself and on behalf of her infant daughter, Amkia Phifer, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of the City of New York, in his official and individual capacities, New York City Administration for Children's Services, Children's Aid Society, Nicholas Scopetta, Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children's Services, in his official and individual capacity, Hattie L. Lucas, Director of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Administration for Children's Services, in her official and individual capacities, Delano Saunders, Christine Gabriel, Ellen Lauter, Edward Nichols M.D., The Montefiore Medical Center, Beth Yurdin, Richard Rosencrantz, Dyan Hes, Henry Adams, Paul Levy, William Spivak, Aeri Moon, John Doe, an employee of the aforesaid defendants whose identities are not presently known, and Jane Doe, an employee of the aforesaid defendants whose identities are not presently known, Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 01-7131.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: November 28, 2001.

Decided: April 19, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Ronald R. Benjamin, Law Offices of Ronald R. Benjamin, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Paul H. Aloe, Rubin Baum, LLP, New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellee The Children's Aid Society.

Howard R. Cohen, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees The City of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, the New York City Administration for Children's Services, Hattie Lucas, Nicholas Scopetta, Delano Saunders, and Christine Gabriel.

Rosanne Leacy, Aaronson, Rappaport, Feinstein & Deutsch, LLP, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees The Montefiore Medical Center, Beth Yurdin, Richard Rosencrantz, M.D., Dyan Hes, M.D., Henry Adam, M.D., William Spivak, M.D., and Aeri Moon, M.D.

Peter I. Livingston, Rosen & Livingston, New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellee Ellen Lauter.

Robert G. Vizza, Geisler & Gabriele, LLP, Garden City, NY, for Defendant-Appellee Edward Nichols, M.D.

Before: JACOBS, SACK, and KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.

Judge JACOBS concurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion.

KATZMANN, Circuit Judge.

Introduction

Plaintiff-Appellant Tina Phifer ("Phifer") appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Denny Chin, J.), dismissing her federal claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Phifer filed the instant civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983 on behalf of herself and her minor daughter Amkia, alleging that the defendants violated their constitutional rights when they removed Amkia from Phifer's custody and deprived Phifer of the custody of her daughter for over two years. We agree with the district court that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine bars any challenge by the plaintiff to the state court's rulings regarding neglect, custody and visitation. We further find that Rooker-Feldman bars the plaintiff's claim of racial discrimination by certain defendants during the pendency of the family court proceedings. However, Phifer's claim that the initial decision by the medical defendants and the New York City Administration for Children's Services ("ACS") to remove Amkia from her mother's custody, made during the August 28 to September 12, 1997 time period, was motivated by racism is not barred by Rooker-Feldman. As for the other claims stemming from Amkia's stay at defendant The Montefiore Medical Center ("Montefiore" or "the hospital") from August 28 to September 12, 1997, we find that Phifer's substantive due process claim and Amkia's Fourth Amendment claim are barred by Rooker-Feldman, but that Phifer and Amkia's procedural due process claims are not precluded. Finally, we conclude that Rooker-Feldman does not bar Amkia's substantive due process claim based on allegations that she was mistreated while in the custody of defendants ACS and the Children's Aid Society ("CAS"). We therefore affirm the district court's judgment in part, reverse the judgment in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Background

Amkia was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a serious, chronic and life-threatening disease, in November of 1996, when she was eight years old. On August 20, 1997, Phifer took Amkia to see Dr. Edward Nichols, Amkia's primary care physician, and explained that Amkia had experienced blood in her stool and was fatigued. A blood test indicated that Amkia was severely anemic. On August 22, 1997, Dr. Nichols advised Phifer that Amkia was in urgent need of a blood transfusion and that Phifer should take Amkia to the emergency room to be admitted for an immediate blood transfusion. Phifer took Amkia to Montefiore that evening, at which time it was determined that Amkia's hemocrit level had dropped to a dangerously low level. Amkia received a blood transfusion that night. Thereafter, a disagreement arose as to how Amkia's care should proceed. According to Phifer, Amkia was out of danger and not in any imminent risk of harm shortly after the blood transfusion. Phifer alleges that the medical defendants, including defendants Dyan Hes, Paul Levy, and William Spivak, began blaming her for Amkia's medical condition and insisting that Amkia was in imminent danger in order to cover up Dr. Nichols's alleged malpractice or because of "racist assumptions that because plaintiff... was of Afro-American decent [sic] she was not qualified to make reasonable parental decisions about recommendations for treatment...." Pl.'s Compl. ¶ 31.

Phifer alleges that Amkia's condition continued to deteriorate while in the care of the medical defendants. Phifer further alleges that when she sought to have Amkia discharged from Montefiore on August 28, 1997, hospital security guards were placed outside Amkia's hospital room and in front of the elevators on that floor. According to the plaintiff, defendant Beth Yurdin, a hospital social worker, told Phifer she could not leave the hospital with Amkia and filed a report of suspected child mistreatment with ACS on August 28, 1997, stating that the plaintiff had attempted to leave the hospital with Amkia and was preventing Amkia from receiving necessary medical attention for her ulcerative colitis.

Over the next several days, the hospital staff refused to allow Phifer to take Amkia from the hospital and threatened to call a child protective agency in order to obtain plaintiff's consent to additional medical procedures. On September 6, 1997, after Amkia's parents would not consent to further medical procedures, Yurdin made a second report to ACS, stating that the plaintiff was attempting to remove Amkia from the hospital. On September 12, 1997, defendant Delano Saunders, a caseworker for ACS, filed a petition in the Bronx County Family Court alleging that Amkia was in imminent danger and that Phifer was neglecting Amkia's medical condition. On this same day, the family court granted temporary custody of Amkia to ACS so she could receive the necessary medical treatment. During the next two months, Amkia received medical treatment at Montefiore. Upon release from the hospital, Amkia was placed with her maternal grandparents under the supervision of ACS.

The neglect case against Phifer proceeded in family court. At a November 24, 1997 hearing, the family court judge found that Phifer had engaged in "[r]epeated bizarre statements and behavior," ordered a competency evaluation of Phifer, and adjourned the case until February 1998 for fact finding. Tr. of Apr. 19, 1999 Hr'g at 20. Amkia was readmitted to Montefiore in February of 1998 due to a deterioration in her condition, and she remained in the hospital until April 9, 1998. On February 17, 1998, the court heard ACS's request that Amkia be returned to ACS custody because Amkia's condition had deteriorated while under her grandparents' care. Upon discharge from Montefiore, Amkia was placed in foster care through CAS.

In March and April of 1998, the family court held evidentiary hearings pursuant to Phifer's application under section 1028 of the Family Court Act for the return of Amkia to her custody. After three days of testimony, the family court denied Phifer's request for custody, concluding that Amkia would be in imminent risk to her health and life if she were returned to her mother. On August 27, 1998, Phifer petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus for the return of Amkia. This motion was also denied. On September 9, 1998, ACS moved to suspend Phifer's visitation with Amkia. The family court judge issued an order of protection ordering Phifer to stay away from Amkia and her foster mother, but urged the parties to reach a resolution on the issue of visitation. On September 30, 1998, Phifer submitted an order to show cause seeking a variety of relief, which was denied. At some point thereafter, visits between Amkia and her mother resumed.

On April 16, 1999, the State Supreme Court dismissed a second petition by Phifer for a writ of habeas corpus for the custody of Amkia and remanded the petition to family court. The family court denied the order to show cause and petition for a writ of habeas corpus on April 19, 1999. The court stated that "[t]here is no doubt whatsoever in this Court's mind that Anthea [sic] is lawfully in the custody of the Administration for Children's Services." Tr. of Apr. 19, 1999 Hr'g at 13. The court stated that Amkia was removed by ACS from her mother in a lawful manner and that the court previously had an opportunity to review the continued lawfulness of that custody during the three-day section 1028 hearing, which resulted in a conclusion that Amkia would be in imminent risk to her health and life if she were returned to her mother. The court also denied Phifer's order to show cause, noting that the court had no bias against Phifer and that the delays in the case were caused in large part by Phifer...