Calabretta v. Floyd

189 F.3d 808 (1999) United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 1999-08-26

civil; family sues social worker and police officer over child-abuse investigation; interlocutory appeal by the two individual defendants from denial of summary judgment on qualified immunity (result: claimant-won)

Facts

  1. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    On November 10, fourteen days after the call and ten days after the first visit, the social worker returned to the Calabretta house with a policeman.
  2. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    Mrs. Calabretta did not open the door, and said she was uncomfortable letting them in without her husband at home.
  3. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The police officer had the opinion that in any check on the welfare of children “there is an exigent circumstance” so no search warrant is needed.
  4. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    While the mother was still with the policeman in the other room, the social worker told the twelve year old to pull down the three year old girl’s pants.
  5. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The three year old was screaming and fighting to get loose, the mother looked at the social worker to see whether she would relent, but she did not, and the mother pulled down the three year old’s pants in obedience to the social worker’s order.
  6. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The social worker and her department delayed entry into the home for fourteen days after the report, because they perceived no immediate danger of serious harm to the children.
  7. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    Anderson requires more particularized analysis, to determine whether, in these particular circumstances, notably the absence of emergency, a reasonable official would understand that they could not enter the home without consent or a search warrant.
  8. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    In our circuit, a reasonable official would have known that the law barred this entry.
  9. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The principle that government officials cannot coerce entry into people’s houses without a search warrant or applicability of an established exception to the requirement of a search warrant is so well established that any reasonable officer would know it.
  10. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The only reason the social worker and police officer did not seek a search warrant was that their subjective opinion was that they did not need one.
  11. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    We conclude that on appellants’ first issue, whether they were protected by qualified immunity regarding their coerced entry into the Calabrettas’ home, the district court was right. They were not.
  12. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The twelve year old had already explained away the screaming and told the social worker that the children were not abusively disciplined.
  13. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    This case is like Good, not Darryl H.
  14. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    The strip search cannot be separated from the context in which it took place, the coerced entry into the home.
  15. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    An unlawful entry or search of a home does not end when the government officials walk across the threshold.
  16. 14 Qualified immunity for government officials sued in individual capacity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald; Pearson v. Callahan) not law
    By the time the social worker forced the mother to pull down the child’s pants, the investigation had contracted to the social worker’s personal opinion that any discipline of a child with an object must be against the law, and her puzzling mention of the family’s religiosity.