RIEMAN V. VASQUEZ, No. 22-56054 (9th Cir. 2024)
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In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of absolute and qualified immunity to two County of San Bernardino social workers, Gloria Vazquez and Mirta Johnson. The plaintiffs, Sydney Rieman and her minor child K.B., alleged that the social workers violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by failing to provide them notice of a juvenile detention hearing and by providing false information to the Juvenile Court about why Ms. Rieman was not noticed for the hearing.
The court held that the social workers were not entitled to absolute immunity for their actions and omissions, such as providing false information to the Juvenile Court and failing to give notice of the detention hearing. These actions were not similar to discretionary decisions about whether to prosecute. Absolute immunity did not apply to the plaintiffs' claim that the defendants failed to give them notice of the detention hearing as such notice was mandatory.
The court also held that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity from suit for failing to provide notice of the hearing. Ms. Rieman had a due process right to such notice and that right was clearly established. The court stated that it was clear at the time that parents could not be summarily deprived of the care and custody of their children without notice and a hearing, except when the children were in imminent danger.
Finally, the court held that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity for their misrepresentation to the Juvenile Court about why Ms. Rieman was not noticed for the hearing. The court concluded that a reasonable social worker in the defendants' shoes would have understood, based on prior decisional law, that providing incomplete and false information to the Juvenile Court about Ms. Rieman’s whereabouts to convince the court that the social workers had satisfied the due process notice requirement constituted judicial deception.
Court Description: Social Worker Immunity The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of absolute and qualified immunity to two County of San Bernardino social workers in an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by Sydney Rieman and her child, K.B., by and through his guardian ad litem Steven Rieman, alleging that defendants violated plaintiffs’ Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by (1) failing to provide them with notice of a juvenile detention hearing in which the County’s Child and Family Services sought custody of K.B.; and (2) providing false information to the Juvenile Court about why Ms. Rieman was not noticed for the hearing.
The panel rejected defendants’ assertion that they were entitled to absolute immunity for actions taken in their quasi-prosecutorial role as social workers. Although social workers may enjoy absolute immunity from suit for discretionary, quasi-prosecutorial decisions to institute court dependency proceedings to take custody away from parents, here neither the actions nor omissions for which defendants were being sued—i.e., providing false information to the Juvenile Court and failing to give notice of the detention hearing—were similar to discretionary decisions about whether to prosecute. Moreover, absolute immunity did not apply to the Riemans’ claim that defendants failed to give them notice of the detention hearing as such notice was mandatory and, therefore, unlike the discretionary decision to initiate prosecution.
The panel held that defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity from suit for failing to provide notice of the hearing. Ms. Rieman had a due process right to such notice and that right was clearly established. It was clear at the time that parents could not be summarily deprived of the care and custody of their children without notice and a hearing, except when the children were in imminent danger.
The panel held that defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity for their misrepresentation to the Juvenile Court about why Ms. Rieman was not noticed for the hearing. A reasonable social worker in defendants’ shoes would have understood, based on prior decisional law, that providing incomplete and false information to the Juvenile Court about Ms. Rieman’s whereabouts to convince the court that the social workers had satisfied the due process notice requirement constituted judicial deception.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on April 2, 2024.
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