Due Process Violation and Invasion of Privacy

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Elizabeth Sebesta. v. Andrea Davis

Case No.: 16-1355

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Due Process Violation and Invasion of Privacy

In September 2010, a hospital social worker harbored concerns about Elizabeth Sebesta’s ability to care properly for her newborn daughter. The social worker contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (“DCFS”), which conducted an investigation. Although DCFS employees pressured Sebesta to accept certain at-home services, they never removed Sebesta’s daughter from her custody. We conclude, as the district court did, that neither the hospital worker nor the DCFS employees stepped over any constitutional line. They reasonably dealt with a sensitive situation in which they had to decide what would serve the child’s best interest. Believing that she had been wronged by these interferences with her parental rights, Sebesta brought this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state common law in 2012 against Davis and the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (the University defendants), as well as Childs and Bean (the DCFS defendants). She primarily accused the defendants of violating her federal substantive due process right to familial integrity, by their acts of reporting, investigating, and “indicating” her. She also raised supplemental Illinois tort claims for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. We affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in their favor.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.