Greene v. Camreta, No. 06-35333

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action alleging a student was unlawfully searched and seized, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed in part where: 1) the general law of search warrants applies to child abuse investigations; 2) however, precedent did not clearly establish that the in-school seizure of a student suspected of being the victim of child sexual abuse could be subject to traditional Fourth Amendment protections; and 3) applying the prior lower standard, defendants' actions were not so clearly invalid as to strip them of qualified immunity.  However, the order is reversed in part where: 1) there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant-social worker secured an order by misrepresenting his conversations with plaintiff-mother; and 2) social worker's decision to exclude mother from her daughters' medical examinations violated the parents' clearly established familial rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Read Greene v. Camreta, No. 06-35333

Appellate Information

Argued and Submitted March 6, 2008

Filed December 10, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Berzon

Counsel

For Appellant:

Mikel R. Miller, Law Office of Mikel R. Miller, Bend, OR

For Appellees:

Hardy Myers, Mary H. Williams, David B. Thompson, Office of the Attorney General, Bend, OR