Maryann Godboldo v. County of Wayne

686 F. App'x 335
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 14, 2017
Docket15-2438
StatusUnpublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 686 F. App'x 335 (Maryann Godboldo v. County of Wayne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maryann Godboldo v. County of Wayne, 686 F. App'x 335 (6th Cir. 2017).

Opinions

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Maryanne Godboldo and her daughter, identified as “AG-H,” initiated this suit, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against Defendants Wayne County and Mia Wenk, among others, for unreasonably seizing AG-H in violation of the Fourth Amendment based on allegations that the putative order providing for the taking of AG-H into state protective custody was unsupported by probable cause and was not reviewed or authorized by a judicial officer.1 Wenk filed this interlocutory appeal challenging the district court’s October 2, 2015 order denying in part Wenk’s motion. to dismiss and/or for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. For the reasons set forth below, we hold that Wenk is entitled to immunity on all of the claims asserted against her. We therefore REVERSE the district court’s partial denial of Wenk’s motion to dismiss and REMAND this action to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

In September 2009, Maryanne Godboldo started noticing behavioral changes in her eleven-year-old daughter, AG-H, after she was given vaccinations. Godboldo sought treatment for her daughter at the New Oakland Child-Adolescent and Family Center (“the Center”). AG-H was prescribed Risperdal, an- anti-psychotic medication. Godboldo was told that she could withdraw her consent to the administration of the drug at any time.

After AG-H started taking the medication, Godboldo noticed that her daughter was experiencing side effects, which included a thirty-two pound weight gain, extreme behavioral changes, and agitation. Godboldo subsequently contacted the Center to complain about the side effects and to withdraw her consent for this medi[337]*337cation to be administered to her daughter. With the assistance of an outside medical consultant, Godboldo began weaning AG-H off the medication.

The Center, after learning that Godbol-do had taken AG-H off the medication, contacted Child Protective Services (“CPS”) to report Godboldo’s action as alleged neglect. Mia Wenk, a social worker with CPS, was assigned to this case and scheduled a Permanent Placement Conference for March 23, 2011, but did not conduct any further investigation into the allegations of abuse. At this conference, which Godboldo did not attend, Wenk and others decided to petition the court for removal of AG-H from Godboldo’s custody, even though the only information available was that Godboldo had “abruptly” taken AG-H off of the Risperdol. The following day, on March 24, 2011, Wenk submitted an “Order to Take Child(ren) into Protective Custody” to the Wayne County Circuit Court. This order was approved, though not by a judge. Instead, a probation officer used a judge’s stamp to approve the order without any judicial input or review.

Wenk then enlisted the help of the Detroit police in order to take AG-H into protective custody. After Godboldo refused entry to the police and Wenk, the police used a crowbar to break into the home. Godboldo was arrested and charged for having endangered the lives of the police officers. AG-H was taken to the Hawthorne Center, where she stayed until December 12, 2011.

Godboldo and AG-H (“Plaintiffs”) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on March 12, 2014, and named Mia Wenk, along with the County of Wayne, the Wayne County Circuit Court, and three additional individuals, as Defendants. Relevant to this appeal, the complaint asserts the following claims against Wenk: violation of Plaintiffs’ Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process, equal protection, to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and to be free from the use of excessive force (Count III); liability under state law, including statutes, common law, rules, regulations, and ordinances, for the violation of Plaintiffs’ rights “to be free from the negligent, reckless, knowingly and/or intentionally tortuous [sic], wilful [sic], wanton and/or grossly negligent execution of ministerial-operational duties contrary to the Michigan Constitution” (R. 1, Compl., ¶ 48) (Count IV); and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Count V).

Wenk filed a “Motion to Dismiss and/or for Summary Judgment” on May 19, 2014, which asserted that Wenk was entitled to qualified immunity, Eleventh Amendment immunity, and statutory and common law immunity under state law. The district court found that a motion for summary judgment was premature, and decided the motion as a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In its opinion and order issued on October 2, 2015, the court first found that Wenk was entitled to absolute immunity in connection with her actions in filing the petition to take AG-H into protective custody. The court further determined that Plaintiffs had failed to plead a claim against Wenk for substantive and procedural due process violations and that the complaint, insofar as it asserted such claims, should be dismissed. The district court further dismissed the § 1983 claim against Wenk for violation of Plaintiffs’ rights to equal protection under the law because Plaintiffs failed to allege that they were members of a suspect class or that they were treated differently from others similarly-situated to them. The district court, however, denied Wenk’s motion to dismiss the § 1983 claim against Wenk for the allegedly unreasonable seizure.

[338]*338As for the state law claims against Wenk, the district court first noted that Count IV did not actually specify which state laws Wenk allegedly violated. The court, however, went on to find that Wenk failed to meet her burden of establishing that she was entitled to governmental immunity as to any intentional torts asserted against her. The court therefore denied her motion to dismiss as to Counts IV and V. Finally, the court denied Wenk’s motion to dismiss insofar as it sought to dismiss the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim in Count V because the complaint alleged facts that, if true, would establish all of the elements of that claim.

On October 16, 2015, Wenk filed a motion for reconsideration, in which she argued that the district court should have considered the records attached to the motion to dismiss and that such consideration would not have improperly converted the motion into one for summary judgment. She also argued that the Fourth Amendment claim should be dismissed because there was probable cause to believe that abuse or neglect was occurring. Wenk also asked for reconsideration of the court’s order denying her qualified immunity on the federal claims asserted against her and denying her governmental immunity on the state law claims. Wenk further challenged the district court’s determination that the complaint alleged facts that would establish that her actions were extreme and outrageous, as required for the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim against her. The court denied her motion for reconsideration on October 27, 2015, and this timely appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

I. Jurisdiction

We generally have jurisdiction to hear an appeal of an order denying qualified immunity pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
686 F. App'x 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maryann-godboldo-v-county-of-wayne-ca6-2017.