Doe v. County of Santa Clara

District Court, N.D. California·Decided September 3, 2024·No. 4:22-cv-04948·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 JANE DOE, et al., Case No. 22-cv-04948-JSW

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 9 v. DISMISS SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT 10 SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND Re: Dkt. No. 64 11 HUMAN SERVICES, et al.,

Defendants. 12

13 Now before the Court for consideration is the motion to dismiss the Second Amended 14 Complaint (“SAC”) filed by Defendants County of Santa Clara (“County”) and Sharon Jenkins. 15 The Court has considered the parties’ papers and relevant legal authority, and it finds this matter 16 suitable for disposition without oral argument. See N.D. Civ. L.R. 7-1(b). For the following 17 reasons, the Court GRANTS the motion to dismiss. 18 BACKGROUND 19 20 A. Allegations in the SAC. Plaintiffs Jane and Jill Doe (“Plaintiffs”) were minor children at all relevant times.1 (Dkt. 21 No. 61, SAC, ¶ 3.) The Santa Clara Department of Family and Children’s Services (“DFCS”) 22 removed Plaintiffs from their parents’ care due to alleged substance abuse and domestic violence 23 issues. (Id. ¶ 11.) 24 Jane, the older sister, was removed before Jill’s birth. At the time of her removal, Jane had 25 a close personal relationship with her maternal grandmother. (Id.) Jane’s grandmother frequently 26 27 1 acted as her caregiver. (Id.) Nevertheless, DCFS declined to consider placing Jane with her 2 grandmother due to the grandmother’s criminal history and poor relationship with Jane’s mother. 3 (Id. ¶ 14.) DCFS also declined to place Jane with her maternal great-grandparents, because Jane’s 4 mother abused her on their property. (Id. ¶ 13.) Finally, DCFS declined to place Jane with a 5 maternal cousin because she lived outside of Santa Clara County. (Id. ¶ 15.) 6 DCFS instead placed Jane with Brian Hernandez and Marissa Clark. (Id. ¶ 16.) 7 Hernandez and Clark were licensed foster parents residing in Merced County, and Jane’s mother 8 initially requested Jane be placed with them. (Id.) 9 According to Plaintiffs, “DCFS purposefully lied” to the family court “about the acrimony 10 between the mother and the great grandparents, and falsely accused the [g]randmother of 11 inappropriate behavior with the mother as well as her criminal history.” (Id. ¶ 19.) Plaintiffs 12 assert that they cannot allege particular falsehoods with more specificity because they have not 13 obtained access to the family court records or transcripts. (Id.) 14 After the placement, DCFA falsely represented that Jane was treated well in her placement, 15 and it failed to investigate the conditions in the Hernandez and Clark home. (Id. at ¶ 20.) DCFS 16 did not consider the logistical difficulties of familial reunification given the distance between the 17 foster home and Santa Clara County. (Id. at ¶ 21.) 18 At some point in this process, Jane’s mother became pregnant with Jill, and DCFS 19 assigned Defendant Sharon Jenkins to be the sisters’ social worker. (Id. at ¶ 23, 26.) Jenkins 20 visited Hernandez and Clark monthly. (Id. ¶ 25.) Clark posted on Facebook and other social 21 media that she would soon adopt two children. (Id. ¶ 26.) Plaintiffs’ biological family confronted 22 Jenkins about the Facebook posts, but Jenkins told the family and the court that no decision 23 regarding placement or adoption had been made. (Id. ¶ 27.) Jill was nevertheless removed at birth 24 from the hospital and placed with Hernandez and Clark. (Id. ¶ 28.) 25 Shortly after Jenkins placed Jill with Hernandez and Clark, Merced County removed other 26 foster children from Hernandez and Clark’s care. (Id. ¶ 32.) Jane recalls Hernandez and Clark 27 used illicit substances in the home, and Hernandez physically and sexually abused the other foster 1 33.) Jenkins did not investigate the reasons for the children’s removal. (Id. ¶ 34.) 2 Jenkins reported that the home was appropriate for Jane and Jill, and she failed to uncover 3 or disclose substance abuse and domestic violence. (Id.) At the hearing to terminate reunification 4 services, Jenkins informed the family court that Plaintiffs were receiving great care in their foster 5 home. (Id. ¶ 35.) 6 In anticipation of Hernandez and Clark adopting the children, DFCS contracted a third 7 party to conduct a home study on the home. (Id. ¶ 38.) The individual who conducted the home 8 study submitted a form with check boxes, and she checked or unchecked boxes that were 9 materially untrue, such as denial of substance use, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. (Id. ¶¶ 38- 10 39.) The completed form was not presented to the family court. (Id. ¶ 39.) Hernandez and Clark 11 then adopted Plaintiffs. (Id. ¶ 40.) 12 Plaintiffs suffered horrific abuse at the hands of Hernandez and Clark after the adoption 13 was finalized. (Id. ¶ 41.) Hernandez forced Jane to consume drugs and alcohol and sexually 14 abused her from the ages of four to thirteen. (Id. ¶¶ 42-45.) Clark subsequently divorced 15 Hernandez and married another man who physically abused the children. (Id. ¶¶ 46-47.) Jill 16 experienced physical and emotional abuse from Clark and her second husband. (Id. ¶ 51.) 17 In November 2021, Jane successfully ran away to her maternal grandmother’s home. (Id. ¶ 18 48.) In 2022, Jill became ill after she accidentally ingested drugs being manufactured in Clark’s 19 home. (Id. ¶ 53.) In response, Clark abandoned Jill at the maternal grandmother’s house, where 20 Jill now lives with her grandmother and Jane. (Id. ¶¶ 53, 55.) 21 B. Procedural History. 22 Plaintiffs filed this case on August 30, 2022 against Santa Clara County (the “County”), 23 Jenkins, DFCS, the Santa Clara Department of Health and Human Services, Social Workers 1- 24 500, Hernandez, and Clark. The County and Jenkins moved to dismiss on the basis that Plaintiffs 25 failed to state a claim and that they were absolutely or qualifiedly immune from Plaintiffs’ claims. 26 The Court granted the motion, with leave to amend. 27 Plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint on May 19, 2023. Because Plaintiffs had not 1 Plaintiffs failed to comply with the statutory requirements in four attempts to move for service by 2 alternate means, the Court dismissed the action as against Hernandez without prejudice. 3 The Court granted the County’s and Jenkins’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint for 4 failure to state a claim, with leave to amend with regard to Plaintiffs’ Section 1983 claims, judicial 5 deception claim, and Monell claims only. Shortly thereafter, the Court dismissed the action as 6 against Clark for failure to demonstrate service. 7 Plaintiffs filed the SAC on February 29, 2024. Plaintiffs bring three claims for relief: (1) 8 denial of familial association and privacy in violation of 42 U.S.C. section 1983; (2) Monell- 9 related claims; and (3) judicial deception. The County and Jenkins again move to dismiss for 10 failure to state a claim. 11 ANALYSIS 12 A. Legal Standard Applicable to Motions to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim. 13 Plaintiffs no longer erroneously refer to the “any set of facts” pleading standard set forth in 14 Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41 (1957). However, in defining the applicable legal standard, 15 Plaintiffs state only that the Court must accept the allegations in the complaint as true, as set forth 16 by the Court in its previous Orders and in Lazy Y Ranch v. Behrens, 546 F.3d 580, 588 (9th Cir. 17 2008). Although the Court accepts the well-pleaded facts in the SAC as true, the Court does not 18 accept the truth of legal conclusions or implausible inferences contained within the SAC. Ashcroft 19 v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 664 (2009).

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