J.C. v. Dist. of Columbia

199 A.3d 192
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 27, 2018
DocketNos. 14-CV-1331; 14-CV-1387; 15-CV-585
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 199 A.3d 192 (J.C. v. Dist. of Columbia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.C. v. Dist. of Columbia, 199 A.3d 192 (D.C. 2018).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

*197In 2007, the District of Columbia1 filed a child abuse and neglect complaint against the parents of twin eight-month-old infant girls. The District of Columbia ("District"), removed the twins, N.C. and Jo.C.2 , from their parents' home, based on a Children's National Medical Center physician's report that one of the twins, N.C., may have suffered from shaken baby syndrome. The children were returned to their parents after approximately fourteen days. The abuse and neglect case against the parents was ultimately withdrawn.

The parents, J.C. (mother) and G.C. (father) ("the C.s"), filed a civil suit against the District contending that the District's removal of their children violated their constitutional rights. In their civil suit, the C.s allege 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006) claims and common law tort claims against the District and against individual District employees within the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General and the Child and Family Services Agency ("CFSA"). The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the District on all of the parents' claims, concluding that the District was not subject to liability because it was entitled to qualified immunity on the § 1983 claims and sovereign immunity on the common law tort claims. The trial court also granted the District's motion to dismiss the individual defendants.3 See Super. Ct. Civ. R. 12 (b)(6). The C.s appeal those decisions.

Consolidated with the C.s' appeal are intervenor WP Company LLC's ("Washington Post") appeals of the trial court's decisions denying its motions seeking access to (1) the summary judgment pleadings, which were sealed and not made available to the public; and (2) an unredacted copy of the trial court's summary judgment order. The trial court ordered most of the record sealed because the case was closely intertwined with the earlier child abuse and neglect action, a confidential matter by statute. See D.C. Code §§ 16-2331, - 2332, and 4-1303.06 (2012 Repl.); Super. Ct. Civ. R. 5-III (standard for sealing court documents).

We have found this case to be of exceptional difficulty both factually and legally, and we recognize the challenges that the trial court faced in answering the questions present in this case. Nevertheless, on the record before us, we are unable to determine whether summary judgment in favor of the District was appropriate. Specifically, the trial court did not directly address whether any of the District's actions actually violated the C.s' constitutional rights in rejecting the C.s' § 1983 claims.4 Likewise, the trial court did not adequately explain why the District and the individual defendants were entitled to immunity from the C.s' common law tort claims. Therefore, we remand for the trial court to consider these issues in determining whether to grant the District's motion *198for summary judgment and in dismissing the individual defendants.

However, under this court's de novo standard of review, and the record as it currently stands, we are able to make the following legal conclusions. First, we hold that the District had probable cause to believe that both N.C. and Jo.C. were in imminent danger of child abuse based on Dr. Allison Jackson's assessment that N.C. suffered from unexplained symptoms consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Second, we hold that the District did not violate the C.s' due process rights by including them on the Child Protection Register. Third, we also affirm infra some of the ancillary constitutional claims that the C.s raise and conclude that: (1) the District did not violate the C.s' substantive due process rights; (2) the two-week separation of N.C. and Jo.C. from their parents was not greater than necessary; and (3) the C.s' equal protection rights were not violated.

We remand for the trial court to address in the first instance the following questions that we believe are crucial to resolving the remainder of the C.s' appeal: (1) whether there were exigent circumstances justifying the warrantless seizure of Jo.C. from the parental home;5 (2) whether probable cause to retain custody of N.C. and Jo.C. continued to exist after Dr. Jackson issued her second medical report; and (3) whether the undisputed facts demonstrate that both the District and the individual defendants were entitled to immunity on the common law tort claims.

With regard to the Washington Post's appeals, we remand for the the trial court to explain its decision to seal the summary judgment pleadings in their entirety and its reasoning for making its redactions to the summary judgment order.6

I. Factual and Procedural Background

To summarize, on August 31, 2007, Children's National Medical Center ("Children's National") contacted CFSA for suspected child abuse after the C.s brought in then-eight-month-old N.C. for vomiting, retching, and acting uncharacteristically irritable. N.C. was diagnosed with old and new bleeding in the front left region of her head (subdural hematoma ), along with "retinal hemorrhages" in both eyes. Dr. Allison Jackson, consulting physician of Children's National's Child and Adolescent Protection Center, found the retinal hemorrhages suspicious and wrote that they were "most consistent with inflicted head trauma with the most likely mechanism *199being that of shaking with or without impact," i.e., injuries consistent with "shaken baby syndrome." Dr. Jackson further noted that the mother's explanation for N.C.'s injuries, that N.C. fell while playing on the hardwood floor, "could not explain the retinal hemorrhages."

CFSA Investigator Roberta Geheren placed a "medical hold" on N.C. at Children's National pending further testing and also ordered the emergency removal of the second twin, Jo.C., from the C.s' home. At about 1:00 a.m. on September 1st, Jo.C. was removed from the C.s' custody by CFSA without a warrant, with help from the Metropolitan Police Department ("MPD"). The record is unclear as to how many hours passed between when CFSA placed N.C. in a medical hold and when CFSA went to secure Jo.C. from the C.s' home. On September 3rd, Judge Zoe Bush held an initial emergency hearing and determined that CFSA had probable cause to remove and hold both children based on Dr. Jackson's report of her medical examination of N.C. suggesting that the trauma was "most likely" the result of "shaking."

On September 4th, and following an MRI of N.C., Dr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
199 A.3d 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jc-v-dist-of-columbia-dc-2018.