RIEMAN V. VAZQUEZ, 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 decision to deny absolute and qualified immunity to two social workers, Gloria Vazquez and Mirta Johnson, in a case brought against them by Sydney Rieman and her child, K.B. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by (1) failing to provide them with notice of a juvenile detention hearing where 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 court rejected the defendants' claim that they were entitled to absolute immunity for actions taken in their quasi-prosecutorial role as social workers. The court determined that the failure to provide notice of the hearing and the provision of false information to the Juvenile Court were not similar to discretionary decisions about whether to prosecute. Therefore, absolute immunity did not apply.
The court also held that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity from suit for failing to provide notice of the hearing and for providing false information to the Juvenile Court. The court affirmed that Ms. Rieman had a due process right to such notice and that this right was clearly established. It was also clear that providing false information to the court constituted judicial deception. The court concluded that a reasonable social worker in the defendants' position would have understood that their actions were violating the plaintiffs' constitutional rights.
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.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on March 5, 2024.
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