Foster Care – Dismissed as Moot

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Alexander Milchtein, et al. v. John T. Chisholm

Case No.: 17-1420

Officials: EASTERBROOK and MANION, Circuit Judges, and JOHN Z. LEE, District Judge

Focus: Foster Care – Dismissed as Moot

Alexander and Ester Riva Milchtein have 15 children. The two eldest refused to return home in 2011 and 2012 and were placed in foster care by orders of Wisconsin’s court system. In this federal suit, the Milchteins contend that state officials violated the federal Constitution during proceedings that ended in the fostercare orders. The Milchteins contend that the state either discriminated against or failed to accommodate their views of family organization and management in the Chabad understanding of Orthodox Judaism. (Rabbi Alexander Milchtein tells us that he follows the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.) These two children now are adults, however, and all state proceedings with respect to them are closed. For that reason the district court dismissed the Milchteins’ suit as moot. 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13160 (E.D. Wis. Jan. 31, 2017).

The Milchteins contend that it is not moot, because (a) the district court could have entered a declaratory judgment about the propriety of Wisconsin’s actions, and (b) they still have 12 minor children, any of whom might run away and precipitate the same sort of controversy.

Because the Milchteins’ proposed means of rescuing this case from mootness runs smack into Younger, we need not decide whether to supplement the record. Defendants oppose the Milchteins’ motion, observing that the affidavit was not before the district judge. They add that Rabbi Milchtein’s assertion that another minor child is “outside the control of my wife and me” does not say what role, if any, state agencies and courts have played in producing that status. (The affidavit says that “Child Protective Services personnel conducted an interview with myself, my wife, and some of my minor children” but does not assert that state employees have acted in any manner based on what they learned.)

For the reasons we have given, this federal case must end whether or not we grant the Milchteins’ motion. As there is no priority among reasons for not deciding the merits, see Sinochem International Co. v. Malaysia International Shipping Corp., 549 U.S. 422 (2007); Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574 (1999), details about exactly what is happening with the Milchteins’ additional children do not matter to this suit—though they may matter greatly in state court.

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.