Tower v. Leslie-Brown, 01-CV-85-B-S.

• Decision Date: 09 October 2001
• Docket Number: No. 01-CV-85-B-S.,01-CV-85-B-S.
• Citation: 167 F.Supp.2d 399
• Parties: Ann TOWER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Joan LESLIE-BROWN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

167 F.Supp.2d 399

Ann TOWER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Joan LESLIE-BROWN, et al., Defendants.

No. 01-CV-85-B-S.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

October 9, 2001.

Ferdinand A. Slater, Esq., Hancock, ME, for plaintiffs.

Melissa Reynolds O'Dea, Esq., Assistant Attorney General, Augusta, ME, for defendants.

ORDER

SINGAL, District Judge.

Plaintiffs filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking money damages for alleged violations of their federal rights arising out of the arrest of one of the Plaintiffs at his home. Plaintiffs claim that Defendants violated their rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, 42 U.S.C. § 670 et seq. Presently before the Court are Defendants' Motion for Partial Dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) (Docket # 2), Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment (Docket # 9), and Defendants' Motion to Seal the Record (Docket # 4). For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS the Partial Motion to Dismiss, DENIES the Motion for Default Judgment, and GRANTS IN PART the Motion to Seal the Record.

I. PARTIAL MOTION TO DISMISS

Plaintiffs Ann and William Tower, Jr., have filed suit against the Maine Department of Human Services ("DHS"), DHS caseworker Joan Leslie-Brown, the Maine State Police, Maine State Trooper Darryl Peary, Jr., and Michelle Dolley, the guardian ad litem of two of the Plaintiffs' children.¹ Defendants Leslie-Brown, Peary and Dolley are named as defendants in both their individual and official capacities.

The State Police, DHS, and Defendant Dolley have moved under Rule 12(b)(6) to dismiss the action against them in its entirety. Defendants Peary and Leslie-Brown have moved to dismiss the action against them in their official capacities only.

A. Motion to Dismiss Standard

A court considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) must treat the factual allegations in the complaint as true and indulge reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. See Correa-Martinez v. Arrillaga-Belendez, 903 F.2d 49, 52 (1st Cir.1990). The court may only grant the motion if it appears that, even if all the allegations in the complaint are true, the plaintiff cannot recover based on any viable legal theory. See Gonzalez-Morales v. Hernandez-Arencibia, 221 F.3d 45, 48 (1st Cir.2000).

For the purposes of this Order, therefore, the Court accepts the following version of the facts, as set forth in the Plaintiffs' Complaint:

B. Background

On January 25, 2001, Trooper Peary and Ms. Leslie-Brown entered the Plaintiffs' residence at Moscow, Maine, apparently without a warrant either to search or arrest. Plaintiff William Tower, Jr., was in the home at the time but did not consent to their entrance. Mr. Tower asked them repeatedly to leave his home or to produce a warrant. The two Defendants ignored Mr. Tower's protests and placed him under arrest. His minor children were in the home and witnessed his being placed in handcuffs.

Law enforcement personnel who are not named in the Complaint removed Mr. Tower from his home, also in view of his children.² He did not resist the arrest but told the officers that he would need to take his heart medication with him if he was leaving. They did not permit him to retrieve the medication and removed him from his home without it, which allegedly caused him fear and distress.

Defendants Peary and Leslie-Brown remained with Plaintiffs' young children after Mr. Tower was removed from the premises. They remained on the property for approximately forty minutes before Plaintiff Ann Tower arrived home. During that forty-minute period, Peary and Leslie-Brown searched the premises and placed several long distance telephone calls that were billed to the Towers' account. When Ms. Tower arrived home, Peary prohibited her from entering the residence. Peary also denied her access to her children until after she had spoken with Leslie-Brown.

Leslie-Brown took the children into protective custody the same day, January 25, 2001, presumably under the authority of a protective order. The Towers complain that she did not inform them of the time or place the order would be sought and had not returned the children to their care as of the filing of the Complaint in this action on May 1, 2001.

C. Discussion

1. State Police and Department of Human Services

Defendants Maine State Police and Maine DHS have moved to dismiss the action against them on the basis that, as state agencies, they are not subject to suit under section 1983. Section 1983 creates a federal cause of action against "every person" who acts under color of state law to deprive a plaintiff of "any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws ...." 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Supreme Court has held that a state and its agencies are not "persons" as the term is used in section 1983. Will v. Mich. Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 65, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989).

Even though Plaintiffs concede that the State Police and Maine DHS are agencies of the State of Maine, they argue that the two entities can face municipal liability under section 1983. See Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs. of New York, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) (holding that municipalities, unlike states, are subject to suit under section 1983). The Maine State Police and the Maine DHS, however, are not municipalities, and therefore the Court determines that they are immune to Plaintiffs' section 1983 claims.

2. Defendants Peary and Leslie-Brown in their Official Capacities

Defendants Peary and Leslie-Brown argue that Plaintiffs may not maintain a section 1983 suit against them in their official capacities because, like the state itself, state officials acting in their official capacities are not "persons" under section 1983 and therefore may not be sued under that provision. Will, 491 U.S. at 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304 ("[A] suit against a state official in his or her official capacity is not a suit against the official but rather is a suit against the official's office ... [and][a]s such, it is no different from a suit against the state itself.") According to the Complaint, Trooper Peary is an employee of the Maine State Police, and Leslie-Brown is a caseworker for DHS.

Plaintiffs nevertheless assert that the Defendants might be liable in their official capacities under a theory of supervisory liability. Although Plaintiffs are correct that a supervisor may be held liable under 1983 when her own actions cause a subordinate to violate another person's federal rights, see Barreto-Rivera v. Medina-Vargas, 168 F.3d 42 (1st Cir.1999), they simply have not pleaded facts that support supervisory liability. The Complaint alleges that Peary and Leslie-Brown violated Plaintiffs' rights directly not through the actions of their subordinates. See, e.g., Figueroa-Torres v. Toledo-Davila, 232 F.3d 270, 278-79 (1st Cir. 2000) (distinguishing direct from supervisory liability of police officers). Defendants Peary and Leslie-Brown therefore enjoy the same immunity from suit in their official capacities that their employing agencies do.

3. Defendant Dolley

Defendant Dolley argues that she is protected by the doctrine of quasi-judicial immunity for tasks undertaken pursuant to her role as the guardian ad litem of two of the Plaintiffs' children. Before the Court may entertain Defendant Dolley's defense, however, the Court must address the paucity of factual allegations against her in the Complaint.

The Complaint states,

The Guardian ad litem is, under State and Federal law, required to represent the best interests of the child(ren) and ensure the legal mandates of the parties, as relating to the children, are followed and adhered to. Observations of the Guardian ad litem reveal strong indications the removal of these two children has caused significant emotional trauma to them both. The Guardian ad litem, defendant Michelle Dolley, has willfully or recklessly caused harm to the children by failing to perform her statutory duties. Defendant Michelle Dolley has willfully or recklessly caused the children, [names omitted], for which the defendants owe a statutorily imposed duty of care, to be harmed by failing to provide for the best interests of the children in a reasonable and prudent manner. Defendants Joan Leslie-Brown and Michelle Dolley have violated the fundamental rights to raise ones [sic] own children and be free from undue governmental interference, due process, equal protection, constitutional and civil rights of the children [names omitted] and of William, Jr., and Ann Tower guaranteed under the fourth, fifth, fourteenth amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 670 et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

(Compl. ¶ 4 (Docket # 1).) The above-quoted language offers no insight on what wrongs Defendant Dolley allegedly has committed against Plaintiffs. See, e.g., Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957) (requiring a complaint to "give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests").

The only hint provided to the Court by the Plaintiffs is the invocation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, 42 U.S.C. § 670 et seq. This Act outlines a federal funding scheme for state adoption and foster care programs. 42 U.S.C. § 670. Federal funds are contingent upon the state's developing a comprehensive plan for its adoption and foster care programs that incorporates certain federal requirements. 42 U.S.C. §§ 671-73. Even assuming that a private right of action exists under this statute,³ the Court was able to locate no provision targeted to the responsibilities of guardians ad litem. Perhaps Plaintiffs believe that Defendant Dolley has failed to abide by one of the requirements of Maine's state plan. Plaintiffs, however, do not allege how Defendant Dolley may have violated the Act, nor the state plan, nor do they specify which provision of either she contravened. The Court...