Manzano v. South Dakota Department of Social Services

60 F.3d 505, 1995 WL 434301
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 25, 1995
DocketNos. 94-1572, 94-2494
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 60 F.3d 505 (Manzano v. South Dakota Department of Social Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Manzano v. South Dakota Department of Social Services, 60 F.3d 505, 1995 WL 434301 (8th Cir. 1995).

Opinion

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, four officials of the South Dakota Department of Social Services (SDDSS) and a deputy with the Pennington County, South Dakota Sheriffs Department (collectively referred to as “appellants”) appeal two orders entered in the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota denying their respective motions for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. For reversal, appellants argue that the district court erred in denying their motions for summary judgment because: (1) their actions did not violate a constitutional right; (2) the constitutional right asserted was not clearly established at the time of the alleged violation; and (3) there was no genuine issue of material fact as to the objective reasonableness of their conduct. For the reasons discussed below, the judgment of the district court is reversed.

I.

Ed Manzano and Kathleen Brooks were married in 1987. On May 28, 1988, their only child, Abigail Manzano, was born. Man-zano and Brooks were divorced on January 18, 1990. Manzano is an officer in the United States Air Force, and Brooks is a registered nurse. The divorce decree gave them joint custody of Abigail. Brooks had primary physical custody, and Manzano had extensive visitation rights. Since the divorce decree was entered, Brooks and Manzano have had intermittent problems concerning visitation. Upon returning home after a visit [507]*507with her father in September of 1991, Abigail allegedly made statements to Brooks and Brooks’ boyfriend which Brooks interpreted to mean that the child had been sexually abused by Manzano. On September 23, 1991, Brooks contacted SDDSS and reported her concern. On September 24, 1991, a social worker with SDDSS, Pia Wilkins, called Lynn MeLane, an investigator with the Pennington County Sheriffs Department, to discuss the Manzano report. MeLane and Wilkins visited with Brooks at SDDSS offices on September 26, 1991. Wilkins and MeLane also spoke with Abigail. In this first interview, Abigail, then age three, repeatedly denied that anyone had ever touched her improperly or made her vaginal area sore. On that same day, Manzano, who was unaware of Brooks’s contact with SDDSS, filed a motion to modify visitation rights in state court because he claimed that Brooks had previously taken Abigail out of South Dakota and thereby denied him his allotted time with the child.

A few days later, Brooks called MeLane and told her that Abigail wanted to speak with her again, and on October 1, 1991, Wilkins and MeLane interviewed Abigail. In this second interview, Abigail told Wilkins and MeLane that Manzano told her not to tell what happened to her. She also told them that Manzano made her vaginal area sore by “stick[ing] his finger way in.” When she was asked why he did that, she answered, “Because I didn’t want him to.” She stated that these things happened when they went camping. Joint Appendix at 1001-05. After this interview, MeLane advised Brooks to get a temporary protection order which could keep Manzano away from Abigail. On that same day, Brooks filed a verified petition with the state court seeking such an order. It is undisputed that neither MeLane nor Wilkins assisted Brooks in the preparation of this petition. In the petition, she alleged that Abigail had begun making statements which suggested Manzano had sexually abused her as early as April or May of 1991 and that Abigail also exhibited physical signs of vaginal irritation such as redness and a strong odor. Brooks also alleged that when she and Manzano were married, he once told her that “if he wanted to abuse his daughter he would put his finger in her vagina and rub it until it was red.” Joint Appendix at 280. Brooks further stated that “professionals” advised her to seek the protection order. The ex parte temporary protection order which prohibited any visitation by Manzano was issued the next day, October 2, 1991, by the state court based solely on “the uncorroborated sex abuse allegation” made by Brooks. Joint Appendix at 285. A hearing was then scheduled for October 28, 1991.

Upon Wilkins’ recommendation, Brooks took Abigail for a physical examination on October 8, 1991. Dr. Lori Strong examined the child and found no physical evidence of abuse. Dr. Strong had previously examined Abigail in April 1991 and at that time as well she found no evidence of abuse. There were medical records, obtained by Wilkins, from an earlier doctor’s appointment at Ellsworth Air Force Base which indicated that Abigail had vaginal irritation in December 1990. On October 9, 1991, Manzano was interrogated by MeLane and Deputy Jerry Moore at the Pennington County Sheriff’s Department. Manzano denied the accusations of abuse. Further, Manzano claimed that, in the petition for the protection order, Brooks mis-characterized his statement regarding child abuse. However, he did admit that he had told Brooks that if a person wanted to abuse a child, he or she would stick a finger inside the child.

On October 10, 1991, MeLane and Wilkins interviewed Abigail for a third time. Unlike the prior two encounters, this interview was not tape-recorded. During this session, Abigail was presented with drawings of a young girl, an adult male, and a hand. According to MeLane, when asked where Manzano touched her, Abigail pointed only to the vaginal and anal areas. MeLane asked Abigail to mark on a hand outline with what part Man-zano had touched her, and she marked three fingers. MeLane also presented Abigail with the outline of an adult male, front view, and asked her to circle the parts with which Manzano had touched her. Abigail drew a large circle that included the stomach, upper thighs, genitalia, and one hand. MeLane then asked her to put an “X” on the parts [508]*508with which he had touched her, and she made an “X” on both thighs. McLane then asked Abigail to point to the parts of the body with which Manzano had touched her, and she pointed to the penis.

On October 15,1991, a hearing was held in the divorce proceeding before the same judge who issued the temporary protection order. As a result, the state court ordered that Manzano be allowed supervised visitation with Abigail at the Department of Social Services office. In an order dated November 19, 1991, the state court granted Manzano two additional hours of supervised visitation per week, and granted Manzano’s request to convert his previously filed motion to modify visitation into a motion to change custody. The state court further ordered that the Pennington County Sheriffs Office and the SDDSS appear in person or in writing on November 25, 1991, to advise the court as to its position regarding its pending investigation and its decision on how it will proceed. The state court required this information because it had suspended proceedings on the custody dispute pending the conclusion of the agencies’ investigation. Joint Appendix at 1018-20. The record is unclear as to the agencies’ response to this request.

On October 17,1991, Wilkins discussed the Manzano case with Deputy State’s Attorney Jay Miller. It was Miller’s belief that, without corroborating medical evidence, the case would be difficult to prosecute. On the following day, Wilkins wrote a letter to Ron Campbell, an attorney for SDDSS, informing him of her opinion that Abigail had been sexually abused by Manzano and of the possibility that the State’s Attorney office might not prosecute the case. On April 24, 1992, a representative of the SDDSS contacted Miller and discussed a possible Abuse and Neglect Petition against Manzano.

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E.D. Arkansas, 2020
Hutchins v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters
177 F.3d 1076 (Eighth Circuit, 1999)
Edward J. Manzano, Jr. v. South Dakota Department of Social Services James W. Ellenbecker, in His Individual and Official Capacity as Director of the Department of Social Services Pia Wilkins, in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Department of Social Services Nancy Fleming, in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Department of Social Services Susan Walsh, in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Department of Social Services Pennington County, South Dakota, a Local Governmental Body Pennington County Sheriff's Department Don Holloway, in His Individual and Official Capacity as Pennington County Sheriff Lynn McLane in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Pennington County Sheriff's Department, Jointly and Severally, Edward J. Manzano, Jr. v. South Dakota Department of of Social Services James W. Ellenbecker, in His Individual and Official Capacity as Director of the Department of Social Services Pia Wilkins, in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Department of Social Services Nancy Fleming, in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Department of Social Services Susan Walsh, in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Department of Social Services Pennington County, South Dakota, a Local Governmental Body Pennington County Sheriff's Department Don Holloway, in His Individual and Official Capacity as Pennington County Sheriff Lynn McLane in Her Individual and Official Capacity With the Pennington County Sheriff's Department, Jointly and Severally
60 F.3d 505 (Eighth Circuit, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
60 F.3d 505, 1995 WL 434301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manzano-v-south-dakota-department-of-social-services-ca8-1995.