Matthews v. BergdorfMatthews v. Bergdorf
In 2006, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (ODHS) recognized Jerry and Deidre Matthews as “adoptive parents” of the year for Northeast Oklahoma. But how quickly things changed. After years of reported abuse and neglect, the Delaware County District Court in April 2014 placed all nine children living in the Matthews’ two bedroom, two bathroom trailer house in the emergency custody of the State. In June 2016, Jerry Matthews pleaded no contest in Delaware County District Court to reduced charges of child neglect. He received a suspended life sentence in exchange for his promise to testify truthfully against his now former wife, Deidre Matthews. Oklahoma v. Matthews, No. CF-2014-117B (Delaware Cty., Okla., July 6, 2016). In October 2017, Deidre Matthews, her fate sealed, pleaded no contest in the same state court to twelve counts of child
The present case is the civil side of this tragedy. The children, Plaintiffs here, claim among other things that eighteen ODHS caseworkers violated their Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights in connection with the horrific events recounted in the complaint.1 Plaintiffs generally allege that between January 2004 and March 2014, various individuals, all with good cause, reported to ODHS that the children living in the Matthews’ home were being mentally and physically abused. At least seventeen reports of abuse and neglect were made to ODHS during this time period. To say the ODHS caseworkers left the children with the Matthews to suffer continued abuse and neglect under deplorable conditions in a dangerous home environment is perhaps an understatement.
The case comes to us from the district court‘s denial of the caseworkers’ motion to dismiss the constitutional claims against them on the basis of qualified immunity. (Seventeen caseworkers have appealed.) See Matthews v. Oklahoma, 2016 WL 6078341 (N.D. Okla. 2016) (unpublished). Our review is de novo. See Dahn v. Amedei, 867 F.3d 1178, 1185 (10th Cir. 2017). The purely legal questions
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A state actor generally may not be held liable under the Fourteenth Amendment for harm a private individual intentionally or recklessly inflicts upon a victim. See DeShaney v. Winnebago Cty. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 489 U.S. 189, 197 (1989). The explanation is simple: Where private violence is responsible for the harm, the state actor has not deprived the victim of any constitutional right; rather the private individual has deprived the victim of life, liberty, or property. See id. at 195–97; see also Robbins v. Oklahoma, 519 F.3d 1242, 1251 (10th Cir. 2008) (McConnell, J.) (”DeShaney holds that the state has no affirmative obligation under the Due Process Clause to protect the interests of life, liberty, and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
I.
Before asking whether the complaint alleges facts sufficient to state a cause of action against any of the caseworkers under the special relationship exception, let us recount what those factual allegations must establish to state such a claim. The complaint first must plead the existence of a special relationship between the plaintiff and the State. Dahn, 867 F.3d at 1185. We will say more about what this relationship encompasses shortly. For now suffice to say that if the plaintiff fails adequately to allege a special relationship with the State, he or she has no claim against a state actor under the special relationship exception. Second, the complaint must allege facts showing the responsible state actor knew the plaintiff was in danger or failed to exercise professional judgment regarding such danger. Id. Third, the
A.
In its order denying the caseworkers’ motion to dismiss, the district court opined that the caseworkers, rather than making any individualized arguments, “collectively” asserted the defense of qualified immunity. Matthews, 2016 WL 6078341, at *8. The caseworkers, according to the court, argued only that the complaint‘s factual allegations were not “conscience shocking.” Id. at *9. Therefore, instead of asking whether the complaint stated a claim under the special relationship exception as to each caseworker, the district court only asked whether the complaint alleged “any possible claims” that shocked the conscience.
As to the first prong of the qualified immunity analysis, Plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to state a plausible substantive due process violation by at least one [caseworker] against at least one Plaintiff arising under the special relationship doctrine. . . .[T]he court rejects [the caseworkers‘] argument that dismissal is proper based on the absence of any alleged conscience-shocking actions in the complaint.
Id. The district court‘s approach constituted error because it shifted the burden to the caseworkers to establish their entitlement to qualified immunity. Perhaps the advocacy of the caseworkers’ trial counsel in the district court was less than stellar. But where multiple state actors raise a qualified immunity defense in a motion to dismiss, “good as to one, good as to all” is never the proper approach to adjudicating
“In conducting [a] qualified immunity analysis, . . . courts must consider . . . whether each defendant‘s alleged conduct violated the plaintiff‘s clearly established rights.” Id. at 1227 (emphasis added) (quoting Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 751 n.9 (2002) (Thomas, J., dissenting)). Before a court may undertake the proper analysis, the complaint must “isolate the allegedly unconstitutional acts of each defendant“; otherwise the complaint does not “provide adequate notice as to the nature of the claims against each” and fails for this reason. Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1250. Here, the caseworkers’ assertion of qualified immunity in their motion, an assertion they made multiple times therein, gave rise to a presumption that they were immune from suit. See Perea v. Baca, 817 F.3d 1198, 1202 (10th Cir. 2016). This presumption operated such that when the caseworkers raised the defense of qualified immunity, the burden shifted to Plaintiffs to demonstrate the complaints’ factual allegations established their right to recover against each caseworker.2 See A.M. ex rel. F.M. v. Holmes, 830 F.3d 1123, 1134–35 (10th Cir. 2016); see also Quinn v. Young, 780 F.3d 998, 1004 (10th Cir. 2015). If Plaintiffs then failed to establish either prong of the qualified immunity analysis as to any caseworker, that caseworker was entitled to prevail on his or her defense. See A.M., 830 F.3d at 1134–35; see also Felders v. Malcom, 755 F.3d 870, 877–78 (10th Cir. 2014) (“The ‘record must clearly demonstrate that the plaintiff has satisfied his heavy two-part burden; otherwise, the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.‘” (quoting Medina v. Cram, 252 F.3d 1124, 1128 (10th Cir. 2001)).
In sum, the burden was on Plaintiffs to overcome the presumption of immunity that arose as to each individual caseworker once the caseworkers raised the qualified immunity defense. Pahls tells us exactly this. There we explained that to state a viable § 1983 claim and overcome a qualified immunity defense, plaintiffs “must establish that each defendant . . . [violated] plaintiffs’ clearly established constitutional rights . . . . Plaintiffs must do more than show . . . that ‘defendants,’ as a collective and undifferentiated whole, were responsible for those violations.3
B.
In DeShaney, the Supreme Court set forth the condition necessary to establish the requisite special relationship. The Court explained that when a State takes individuals into custody and holds them against their will, the Constitution imposes upon the State a duty to assume some responsibility for their safety and general well-being: “In the substantive due process analysis, it is the State‘s affirmative act of restraining the individual‘s freedom to act on his own behalf—through incarceration,
Paragraph 29 of the complaint alleges that “[s]ome of the children were placed with the Matthews by [O]DHS through the foster care program, some ended up being adopted by the Matthews, some had a legal guardianship with the Matthews and some of the children were just living with them.” Paragraph 76 then concludes that
Tenth Circuit precedent dictates that a child in Oklahoma‘s state-run foster care program is in the custody of the State. Oklahoma law predictably leads us to the same conclusion. See, e.g.,
But a child alleged to be adopted, living with an adult pursuant to a guardianship, or “just living” with an adult is not in the custody of the State and, unlike a foster child, does not have a special relationship with the State. An adopted child is in the custody of his or her adoptive parents. Similarly, a child living in Oklahoma pursuant to a court-ordered guardianship is in the custody of his or her guardian. “A guardian, including a special guardian, of the person is charged with the custody of the ward, and must look to the support, health and education of the ward.”4
C.
With a proper understanding of the special relationship exception in hand, we turn to the arduous task of sorting through the complaint‘s sweeping factual allegations. We may promptly dispose of any claims S.P., A.P., N.P., J.M. and C.M. purport to state under the exception. Paragraph 74 of the complaint alleges “Plaintiffs S.P., A.P., N.P., and J.M. lived in the Matthews’ home pursuant to a guardianship.” We have just learned, however, that the special relationship exception does not encompass a guardianship established under Oklahoma law because the State does not exercise custody over the ward subject to the guardianship. Therefore, S.P., A.P., N.P., and J.M. fail to state a cause of action under the exception.5 As for C.M., the complaint does not specify how he or she came to reside with the Matthews or under what terms and conditions he or she resided with them. This means the complaint alleges no special or custodial relationship between C.M. and the State as well. So C.M. also fails to state a claim against any of the caseworkers under the special relationship exception.
Notably, Paragraph 36 fails to identify any specific ODHS caseworker responsible for the plan and is deficient on this basis alone. See Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1250. Moreover, Paragraph 36 considered in the context of the entire complaint is insufficient to establish at least two elements necessary to sustain a cause of action under the special relationship exception. The complaint does not suggest knowledge at this point in 2004 of any imminent danger to the children, or a lack of professional judgment on the part of the unidentified caseworker(s). Nor does the complaint suggest ODHS‘s handling of the situation—requiring a written compliance plan in response to corporal punishment—caused any injury to Rachel Matthews or G.M., let alone injury arising out of facts that shock the conscience. At best, Paragraph 36‘s allegations are in hindsight a general foreboding of things to come. Plaintiffs
Plaintiff E.M.‘s claim of a special relationship with the State presents a different factual scenario. Paragraph 75 alleges that E.M. is the daughter of Julie Matthews. E.M. was born when Julie Matthews, then known as Julie Ann Shade, “was a ward of the State and a foster child placed with the Matthews.” Paragraph 75 concludes that under such circumstances, E.M. “was defacto a responsibility of the State.” The question of whether a State by operation of law takes custody of an infant born to a minor in foster care is one we have not encountered and one we need not resolve here. Even assuming the State formed a special relationship with E.M. upon his or her birth, this relationship ended with E.M.‘s adoption. Paragraph 42 tells us E.M. was born on December 20, 2005 and adopted on January 8, 2007. Paragraphs 43 and 44 then reference E.M. as part of ODHS Referral 1023916 on January 12, 2006. But these paragraphs identify Vickie Brumback as the responding caseworker. Vickie Brumback is not a named Defendant and the only reference to her in the complaint appears in Paragraph 43.
Given the paragraphs’ failure to identify any of the named caseworkers as responsible for handling the referral, “it is impossible for any of these individuals to ascertain what particular unconstitutional acts they are alleged to have committed” in regard thereto. Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1250. A complaint that fails to differentiate wrongful acts among multiple defendants, alleging instead multiple violations by
Finally, we address the alleged status of M.S., a special needs child who at times required the use of a wheelchair. Paragraph 38 of the complaint says ODHS placed M.S. in the Matthews’ home on June 10, 2005. Paragraph 45 indicates that on January 11, 2007, the Matthews “were appointed” guardians of M.S. Paragraph 48 tells us “the guardianship was dismissed” when “on July 1, 2008, the Matthews did not appear for Plaintiff M.S.‘s guardianship review.” But the complaint fails to allege M.S.‘s custody status after this date. Therefore, the complaint alleges facts sufficient to establish a special relationship between M.S. and the State only from June 10, 2005 until January 11, 2007. During this time, ODHS received Referral 990680, the first of many over the next several years regarding the increasingly dire situation at the Matthews’ residence. Paragraph 39 alleges:
On June 29, 2005, referral 990680 was made to [O]DHS concerning neglect in the form of inadequate or dangerous shelter and inadequate physical care. The reporter alleged that the home was dirty, the children were bathed once a week to save money on water, the children had no socks in the winter, the laundry was dirty, the yard was dangerous and a preteen boy and girl were sharing a bedroom. The referral was screened out and no one at [O]DHS took any action to protect Rachel Matthews, G.M. or M.S. The referral was handled by Kila Bergdorf and D. Johnston.
The question remaining is whether M.S. has alleged facts related to the referral that tend to shock the conscience. Paragraph 39 alleges caseworker
But this is the only cause of action Plaintiffs’ complaint states under the special relationship exception. Discovery may proceed on Plaintiff M.S.‘s claim against Defendant Bergdorf because in 2005 the law was well established such that
II.
Applying the same rules of pleading and law of qualified immunity recited in Part I.A., let us now turn to a discussion of the state-created danger exception and the extent to which Plaintiffs’ complaint states a claim under the second exception to the general rule that a state actor may not be held liable for harm a private individual inflicts upon a victim. The state-created danger exception is a means by which a state actor, absent a special or custodial relationship between the victim and the State, might be held liable for an act of private violence. Gray, 672 F.3d at 922. Like the special relationship exception, the state-created danger exception is narrow.
In addition to adequately pleading affirmative conduct and private violence as part and parcel of any claim arising under the state-created danger exception, a plaintiff must also adequately allege the following: (1) the state actor created the danger or increased the plaintiff‘s vulnerability to the danger in some way, (2) plaintiff was a member of a limited and specifically definable group, (3) the state actor‘s conduct put plaintiff at substantial risk of serious, immediate, and proximate
A.
In its analysis of the state-created danger exception, the district court again erred by effectively shifting the burden to the caseworkers to establish their entitlement to qualified immunity on an individual basis. See supra Part I.A. The court commented: “Again, [O]DHS employees did not make any individualized arguments. Plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to state a substantive due process violation by at least one [O]DHS employee against at least one Plaintiff arising under the danger-creation theory.” Matthews, 2016 WL 6078341, at *9. Here we reiterate the burden was on Plaintiffs to overcome the presumption of immunity that arose as to each individual caseworker once the caseworkers, collectively or otherwise, raised the defense of qualified immunity. See A.M., 830 F.3d at 1134–35; Quinn, 780 F.3d at 1004. The district court simply missed the mark when it reasoned that “the complaint sufficiently alleges that each and every named [O]DHS employee played a role in the deprivation. Even those mentioned only once, . . . at least plausibly bear some responsibility for failing to curtail the alleged abuse when presented with a specific referral.” Matthews, 2016 WL 6078341, at *8. In Currier v. Doran, 242 F.3d 905, 920–21 (10th Cir. 2001), we rejected the argument that the state-created danger exception requires a caseworker “to rescue the children because she was aware that her fellow co-workers [or anyone else for that matter] had created the danger.”
The district court‘s decision that the caseworkers as a collective and undifferentiated whole were responsible for the harm the Matthews wrought upon Plaintiffs tells no particular caseworker why he or she must answer the complaint. See Pahls, 718 F.3d at 1227–28; Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1250. The reader should well understand by now that every named Plaintiff had the burden of adequately pleading every element of his or her claim under the state-created danger exception against a particular caseworker. See Pahls, 718 F.3d at 1228. Whether a plaintiff in seeking to invoke the exception in cases such as this has adequately alleged affirmative conduct on the part of the State must be the initial focus of the district court. In its absence, an ODHS caseworker had no antecedent duty to protect a Plaintiff from Jerry and Deidre Matthews, at least so far as the state-created danger exception to the Fourteenth Amendment is concerned.
B.
Paragraph 84 of the complaint states the ODHS caseworkers, “either [1] by a failure to properly investigate and process reports of child abuse and neglect, or [2] by actively interfering with the detection of child abuse and neglect, abdicated their duties as [O]DHS employees while knowing that Plaintiffs were in imminent
Consistent with the second clause of Paragraph 84, however, Paragraph 63 alleges that ODHS caseworkers would warn the Matthews when an investigator was scheduled to arrive at the home to inspect the property and speak with the children: “At the direction of [Defendant] Karen Feather, [Defendant] Carol Schraad[-Dahn] would call Deidre Matthews approximately twenty-four to forty-eight hours in advance of home inspections. The purpose of these warnings was to allow the Matthews enough time to clean their home and rehearse interviews with the children.” Paragraph 63 specifically charges named caseworkers, Defendants Feather
This leaves us with the question of whether the law surrounding the state-created danger exception as applied to the alleged facts was clearly established at the time of the two caseworkers’ purported malfeasance. To show the law was clearly established, “the plaintiff does not have to show the specific action at issue had been held unlawful;” rather the alleged unlawful “conduct must have been apparent in light of preexisting law.” Armijo ex rel. Chavez v. Wagon Mound Pub. Sch., 159 F.3d 1253, 1260 (10th Cir. 1998). In 2001, we held a state caseworker could be held liable under the state-created danger exception for instructing a mother to stop making abuse allegations against the children‘s father. Currier, 242 F.3d at 921. We reasoned that by actively discouraging the mother from reporting suspected wrongdoing, the caseworker increased the children‘s vulnerability to their father‘s
We see little distinction between the affirmative act of instructing an individual to cease reporting evidence of abuse as occurred in Currier and the affirmative act of warning an individual so that the latter might cover up evidence of abuse as alleged here.8 Both acts effectively impede access to protective services, and perhaps additional sources of assistance, otherwise available to the victims. See id. After we decided Currier in 2001, the law was well established in the Tenth Circuit such that a reasonable caseworker cognizant of the law would have understood the following: A caseworker‘s affirmative actions allegedly designed to shield and protect the Matthews in light of repeated child abuse and neglect referrals could give rise to constitutional liability under the state-created danger exception. Thus, the district court properly denied caseworker Feather‘s and Schraad-Dahn‘s defense of qualified immunity on this particular claim. For the reasons stated, however, the district court erred in denying the remaining named caseworkers qualified immunity on Plaintiffs’ state-created danger claims.
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But in DeShaney, the Supreme Court, at least for now, marked the path we are sworn to follow. Notwithstanding the “undeniably tragic” facts presented in that case (the father beat the child so severely that he rendered the child “profoundly” handicapped and in need of institutionalization), the Court explained the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment “does not transform every tort committed by a state actor into a constitutional violation.” DeShaney, 489 U.S. at 191, 193, 202. Today we have pronounced no new law; we have done nothing more than apply binding precedent. To allow Plaintiff‘s complaint to proceed on claims that have no basis in constitutional jurisprudence would thwart the aims of qualified immunity and impose excessive discovery costs on Defendants absent legal justification. See Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1248. The people of the State of Oklahoma “may well prefer a system of liability which would place upon the State and its officials the
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007), requires a plaintiff to allege facts sufficient to show the defendant plausibly violated his or her constitutional rights. This requires enough specificity to give the defendant notice of the claim asserted. See Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1249. In Robbins, we explained:
[C]omplaints in § 1983 cases against individual government actors pose a greater likelihood of failures in notice and plausibility because they typically include complex claims against multiple defendants. The Twombly standard may have greater bite in such contexts, appropriately reflecting the special interest in resolving the affirmative defense of qualified immunity at the earliest possible stage of a litigation.
Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).