Recently the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously overturned lower court rulings in the wrongful death lawsuit against Pope County brought by relatives of Eric Dean, whose 2015 murder at age 5 prompted significant child protection reforms.
The combined impact of previous state and federal decisions, notably the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in DeShaney vs. Winnebago County, was to shield child protection caseworkers from lawsuits related to child deaths unless they had engaged in willful or malicious conduct. The Minnesota decision requires workers to also act in good faith and exercise due care, which lowers the threshold for successful litigation.
This decision increases the potential to hold workers and counties accountable for decisions that knowingly put children at grave risk and which lead to their death.
Time will tell how this plays out, but it looks like a big win for Minnesota children.
Listen to this blog post as well as in-depth commentary and analysis, in this week’s podcast, here, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Read the podcast transcript here.
There is no e-brief or podcast scheduled for next week. Happy Thanksgiving! See you in two weeks.