Cornejo v. Bell, No. 08-3069

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action based on actions taken by the employees of the New York City Administration for Children's Services in connection with an investigation into the death of plaintiff's infant son, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) the lawyer defendants were fulfilling functions similar to a prosecutor and were thus entitled to absolute immunity; and 2) caseworker defendants essentially functioned much more like investigators than prosecutors, so they were not entitled to absolute immunity, but they were nonetheless entitled to qualified immunity.

Read Cornejo v. Bell, No. 08-3069

Appellate Information

Argued: October 7, 2009

Decided: January 4, 2010

Judges

Opinion by Judge Rakoff

Counsel

For Appellant:

Carolyn A. Kubitschek, Lansner & Kubitschek, New York, NY

For Appellee:

Janet L. Zaleon, Michael A. Cardozo, Kristin M. Helmers, City of New York Law Department, New York, NY