Halley ex rel. J.H. v. Oklahoma ex rel. Oklahoma State Department of Human Services

176 F. Supp. 3d 1268, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43345, 2016 WL 1301125
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 31, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-CV-562-JHP
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 176 F. Supp. 3d 1268 (Halley ex rel. J.H. v. Oklahoma ex rel. Oklahoma State Department of Human Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Halley ex rel. J.H. v. Oklahoma ex rel. Oklahoma State Department of Human Services, 176 F. Supp. 3d 1268, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43345, 2016 WL 1301125 (E.D. Okla. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

James H. Payne, United States District Judge, Eastern District of Oklahoma

Before the Court are (1) Defendant Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ Motion to Dismiss First Amended Complaint (Doc. No. 54), (2) Defendant Sara Huckaby’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 55), and (3) Defendant Independent School District No. 4 of Bryan County, Oklahoma’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 60). After consideration of the briefs, and for the reasons stated below, the Motions to Dismiss are DENIED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Frank Halley filed this action as the next friend of J.H., a minor, to recover against the defendants for alleged violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Plaintiff also brings state law claims pursuant to Bosh v. Cherokee County Governmental Building Authority, 305 P.3d 994 (Okla.2013) and the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act (“OGT-CA”), Okla. Stat. tit. 51, §§ 151 et seq. The First Amended Complaint names as defendants (1) the State of Oklahoma ex rel. the Oklahoma State Department of Human Services (“OKDHS”), (2) Sara Huckaby (DHS employee), (3) Ken Golden (Sheriff of Bryan County, Oklahoma), (4) Nathan Callaway (employee of Bryan County, Oklahoma), (5) the City of Colbert, Oklahoma, (6) Jeff Goerke (Chief of Police of the City of Colbert), and (7) Independent School District No. 4 of Bryan County, Oklahoma (“School”).

According to the First Amended Complaint, on February 12, 2014, detective Nathan Callaway and an OKDHS employee interviewed Brittany Halley about alleged physical abuse between Brittany and J.H.’s father. (Doc. No. 48, ¶ 7). The interview did not reveal that six-year-old J.H. was in immediate danger of imminent harm, and OKDHS knew that J.H. was living at that time with an appropriate caregiver. (Id. ¶ 11). Two days later, on February 14, 2014, Jeff Goerke picked up J.H. from his school without “trustworthy or verified information, warrant, lawful reason, legal process, court order, affidavit or other paperwork that would authorize or justify the removal of J.H. from the school.” (Id. ¶¶ 13-14). Despite the lack of authority, “employees of School retrieved J.H. and voluntarily presented him to Goerke.” (Id. ¶ 14). The School “had actual knowledge that J.H. did not want to leave with Goerke or ride in his police car, and they had actual knowledge that Goerke had not presented any lawful basis to remove J.H. and force him to leave school property,” yet School employees “knowingly allowed Goerke to force J.H. into his police car and drive away.” (Id. ¶ 17). Although J.H. unequivocally objected to the removal, Goerke transported J.H. in his police car to ABC House in Durant, Oklahoma, approximately thirteen miles from the elementary school. (Id. ¶ 15,18).

At the ABC House, Sara Huckaby and/or Callaway interrogated J.H. about his father for approximately one hour in an attempt “to solicit information to either file criminal charges against [J.H.’s father], or to break apart his family, thus directly targeting the familial relationship.” (Id. ¶¶ 20, 26). Plaintiff alleges J.H.’s removal and interrogation stemmed from a failed criminal prosecution against J.H.’s father. (Id. ¶ 23). Specifically, “the substantial embarrassment stemming from the failure to obtain a conviction caused OKDHS and Bryan County officials, including Huckaby and Callaway, to target [J.H.’s father] and his family for retaliation in a vain effort to rehabilitate their own credibility and to [1273]*1273further their own political and professional ambitions.” (Id.). Plaintiff alleges Huckaby and Callaway “had actual knowledge that state law did not permit them to unilaterally take custody of J.H. under these circumstances,” yet used Goerke “to seize J.H. without warrant or probable cause.” (Id. ¶24). After Huckaby and/or Calla-way’s efforts to obtain “information necessary to pursue” J.H.’s father failed, Calla-way transported J.H. back to his school. (Id. ¶ 27). J.H.’s caretaker learned of these events only upon picking up J.H. from school at the end of the school day. (Id. ¶ 28). As a result of the seizure and interrogation, J.H. has allegedly suffered stress and trauma requiring professional counseling. (Id. ¶ 29).

Plaintiff asserts a total of five causes of action against seven defendants. Relevant to the motions at issue, Plaintiff seeks: (1) relief against OKDHS based on respondeat superior liability for “unreasonable seizures or excessive force” in violation of Article 2 § 30 of the Oklahoma Constitution and deprivation of J.H.’s due process rights in violation of Article 2 § 7 of the Oklahoma Constitution; (2) relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Huckaby for violation of J.H.’s rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and (3) recovery against School under the OGTCA for breach of its “duty of reasonable care to ensure that minor children are not removed from the custodial care in violation of the law or without proper legal authority” by “removing or allowing the removal of J.H. from the custodial care of his classroom without proper legal authority.” (Id, ¶¶ 30-45).

Defendants OKDHS, Huckaby, and School have now moved to dismiss Plaintiffs claims against them pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which any relief can be granted as a matter of law. Huckaby also seeks dismissal based on qualified immunity. School also seeks dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) based on sovereign immunity.

DISCUSSION

In considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court must accept all well-pleaded allegations of the complaint as true, and must construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Anderson v. Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc., 521 F.3d 1278, 1284 (10th Cir.2008). To withstand a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain enough allegations of fact “to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Carp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The Tenth Circuit has stated that “plausibility” in this context refers “to the scope of the allegations in the complaint: if they are so general that they encompass a wide swath of conduct, much of it innocent, then the plaintiffs ‘have not nudged their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible.’ ” Robbins v. Oklahoma, 519 F.3d 1242, 1247 (10th Cir.2008) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 569, 127 S.Ct. 1955). The plaintiff bears the burden to frame “a complaint with enough factual matter (taken as true) to suggest” that he or she is entitled to relief. Twom-bly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

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Bluebook (online)
176 F. Supp. 3d 1268, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43345, 2016 WL 1301125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/halley-ex-rel-jh-v-oklahoma-ex-rel-oklahoma-state-department-of-human-oked-2016.