Smith v. SiegelmanSmith v. Siegelman
Roger C. Appell, Law Offices of Roger C. Appell, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before TJOFLAT, WILSON and COWEN*, Circuit Judges.
TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:
The sole issue in this interlocutory appeal is whether nine public servants, who are being sued for money damages in their individual capacities under
I.
A.
Plaintiff Curtis Smith is a minor. In late February of 2000, the Hale County Department of the Alabama Department of Human Resources (“DHR“) notified Smith (through a letter to his parents) that it was investigating him for the alleged sexual abuse of Deidra Minyard, also a minor. Following the notification, defendant Lucy Gallman, a social worker with the Hale County Department, contacted Smith‘s parents, requesting to interview Smith аs part of the DHR‘s investigation. When Gallman insisted that she interview Smith without either parent present, Smith‘s parents refused the interview request. Smith‘s parents then retained an attorney, who attempted to arrange a meeting with Gallman. When Gallman again insisted that she meet with Smith alone — without the attorney or the parents in attendance — counsel refused to allow Smith to be questioned.2 Two weeks later, on March 15, 2000, a complaint, citing the sexual abuse described above, was filed against Smith in the Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Juvenile Court. The following day, Smith was provided a Notification of Rights, which informed him of his right to remain silent and that anything he said to the authorities could be used against him.3
Approximately four months later, on June 7, 2000, Gallman and another social worker in the Hale County Department, defendant Rose Shadwrick, wrote Smith a letter stating, “Our investigation shows reasonable cause to believe that the report is `indicated,’ i.e., true. An indicated disposition is used when there is more evidence than not, based on the professional judgment of the social worker, that child abuse/neglect has occurred.” The letter explained that the DHR‘s decision of “indicated” was made following (1) “an interview with the child in which she reported that [Smith] caused her to perform oral sex and [that Smith] put [his] penis in her vagina,” and (2) interviews with “family members, professionals and collаterals.” The letter further informed Smith that he could have the decision reviewed by a “DHR independent panel,” whose decision was “final.”
The D[HR] is in receipt of yоur request for an administrative record review.... This D[HR] record review will be conducted by an independent panel. Persons reviewing the record are not involved in the case and have the authority to overturn the worker‘s or supervisor‘s disposition if the record does not support this finding. You will be notified in writing within 90 days of the final disposition of this report by the independent panel.
After two months passed, on September 25, Smith received a letter from defendant Sharon Mintz, the Administrator CA/N Record Reviewer in the DHR‘s state office, informing him as follows:
We have completed our administrative record review on the above noted case. It has been determined that the [Hale] County Department does have enough credible evidence to support a disposition finding of “indicated,” i.e., true. This report will be entered into the D[HR]‘s Central Registry on Child Abuse and Neglect as an “indicated” incident.4
Smith‘s name and the reрort were subsequently entered into the DHR‘s Central Registry (“Registry“). The information on the Registry is made available to persons and entities, public and private, as provided by section 26-14-8(b) of the 1975 Alabama Code5 and regulation 660-5-34-.07(d) of the Alabama Administrative Code.6
B.
Smith responded to the placing of his name and the DHR report on the Registry by filing a complaint on November 29, 2000, in the Northern District of Alabama against nine individuals: several DHR employees (including Gallman, Shadwrick, and Mintz),7 Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor.8 He sued each defendant in his or her official and individual capacities. The complaint alleged that the defendants had denied him due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in violation of
II.
A.
We have jurisdiction to review the denial of the defense of qualified immunity pursuant to
B.
Qualified immunity protects government officials sued in their individual capacities as long as their conduct does not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 2515, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). “The purpose of this immunity is to allow government officials to carry out their discretionary duties without the fear of personal liability or harassing litigation,” Vinyard v. Wilson, 311 F.3d 1340, 1346 (11th Cir. 2002), by ensuring that only “the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law” are subjected to liability. Chesser, 248 F.3d at 1122 (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1096, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986)). “To receive qualified immunity, the public official must first prove that he was acting within the scope of his discretionary authority when the allegedly wrongful acts occurred.” Vinyard, 311 F.3d at 1346 (quoting Lee v. Ferraro, 284 F.3d 1188, 1194 (11th Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks omitted)). If the defendants were not acting within their discretionary authority, they are ineligible fоr the benefit of qualified immunity. See Lee, 284 F.3d at 1194. Here, it is clear that the defendants were acting — if they acted at all — in their discretionary capacities when they caused Smith‘s name and the DHR report to be added to the Registry.
III.
A.
Smith claims that the defendants violated his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process when they plaсed his name and the DHR report on the Registry without providing him the opportunity to present testimony and examine witnesses. Nowhere in his complaint, however, does Smith make any allegation that defendants Siegelman, Pryor, Fuller, Petelos, Muscolino, and Smith were involved in the child abuse investigation or in the placing of his name on the Registry. Nor does the complaint allege any causal connection between the deprivation of Smith‘s right to due prоcess and these six defendants. Rather, Smith appears to sue these six individuals solely on the basis of their supervisory authority over the other three defendants — Gallman, Shadwrick, and Mintz. See Hartley v. Parnell, 193 F.3d 1263, 1269 (11th Cir.1999) (“It is well established in this circuit that supervisory officials are not liable under
B.
As for the remaining threе defendants — DHR employees Gallman, Shadwrick, and Mintz — Smith‘s complaint does not show how they participated, if at all, in the decision to deny him a hearing, that is, a hearing held on the terms dictated by his attorney.13 Nor does the complaint assert that any of these defendants placed his name and the DHR report on the Registry. In short, the complaint fails to describe how the acts of these defendants infringed Smith‘s due process rights. Nonetheless, we will assume for sake of discussion that these three defendants played a significant role in the decision to deny Smith the sort of due process hearing he sought.
With any due process challenge, we must initially determine whether the injury claimed by the plaintiff is within the scope of the Due Process Clause. See Cypress Ins. Co. v. Clark, 144 F.3d 1435, 1436 (11th Cir.1998). The Due Process Clause protects against deprivations of “life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
The Supreme Court in Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 701, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 1161, 47 L.Ed.2d 405 (1976), held that a person‘s interest in reputation alone, “apart from some more tangible interests such as employment,” is not a protected liberty interest within the meaning of the due process clause. “To establish a liberty interest sufficient to implicate the fourteenth amendment safeguards, the individual must be not only stigmatized but also stigmatized in connection with a denial of a right оr status previously recognized under state law.” Cannon v. City of West Palm Beach, 250 F.3d 1299, 1302-03 (11th Cir.2001) (quoting Moore v. Otero, 557 F.2d 435, 437 (5th Cir.1977)).14 In other words, a “stigma-plus” is required to establish a constitutional violation. Moore, 557 F.2d at 437. We think that Smith‘s complaint fails to satisfy the “plus” requirement.
The complaint does not at any point allege that Smith was denied any right or status other than his not being branded a child sexual abuser. Smith has not contended that he was discharged, demoted, or rejected from a job due to the information on the Registry. See Von Stein v. Brescher, 904 F.2d 572, 582 (11th Cir.1990) (“We do not think the law of this Circuit has established that defamation occurring other than in the course of dismissal from a job or in the termination or significant alteration of some other legal right or status will suffice to constitute a deprivation sufficient to state a claim under section 1983.“); see also Cotton v. Jackson, 216 F.3d 1328, 1330 (11th Cir.2000) (“[W]hen reputational damage is sustained in connection with a termination of employment, it may give rise to a procedural due process claim for deprivation of liberty which is actionable under section 1983.“) (emphasis added); Dennis v. S&S Consol. Rural High School Dist., 577 F.2d 338, 342 (5th Cir.1978) (“[S]tigma to reputation in conjunction with а failure to rehire a nontenured employee states a claim under
Nonetheless, the district court concluded that the “plus” prong was satisfied, because under
If [Smith] were to choose to teach elementary or seсondary school, to work in daycare, to work with the Boy Scouts, to join law enforcement, [or] to gain custody of children he may have, DHR‘s record of him as a child sex abuser would negatively impact (or prevent) his ability to work in these positions and his custody rights as a parent.... [Smith]‘s ability to purse the employment of his choice, among other rights, is affected.
Most defamation plaintiffs attempt to show some sort of special damage and out-of-pocket loss which flows from injury to their reputation. But so long as such damage flows from injury cаused by the defendant to a plaintiff‘s reputation, it may be recoverable under state tort law but it is not recoverable in a Bivens action.15
Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 234, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 1794, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991) (emphasis added). In other words, the deleterious effects that flow directly from a sullied reputation, such as the adverse impact on job prospects, are normally insufficient. Valmonte v. Bane, 18 F.3d 992, 1001 (2d Cir.1994). Plaintiff must show that the defendants‘s conduct “deprived [him] of a previously recognized property or liberty interest in addition to damaging the plaintiff‘s reputation.” Cypress Ins. Co., 144 F.3d at 1436-37. Smith here has failed to do so. Since Smith has failed to allege the violation of a constitutional right, defendants Gallman, Shadwrick, and Mintz are entitled to qualified immunity on Smith‘s due process claim.16
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, the decision of the district court denying the defendants qualified immunity is reversed.
REVERSED.