Mulholland v. Berks County, et al., 706 F.3d 227 (3d. Cir., 2013)

Municipality not liable under Monell for a single investigation that violated the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law as the violation did not result from an agency policy or custom.

The appellants contend that the removal of their children and grandchild from their home in 2006 violated their constitutional rights. The court ruled a municipality, of which the Children and Youth Services (CYYS) was simply an agency, could not be held liable under § 1983 for a caseworker’s alleged single action that allegedly deviated from the requirements of the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law. There was no evidence the CYYS established a policy or adopted a custom of conducting random and aimless investigations. Not only did the statutory duty to inform an individual that he was to be listed on the statewide child abuse registry fall upon the state Department of Public Welfare and not the Youth Services, but even if the Youth Services were responsible for notifying alleged predators, a one-time failure to do so would not have subjected the county to municipal liability under § 1983 as it did not show the failure resulted from an agency policy or custom.

Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter 2013