Civil Liabilities vs. Governmental Agencies

A pair of rulings from the Ohio Supreme Court today examined child abuse particulars regarding a governmental agency’s immunity to civil liability.

The first case spawned from an incident back in March 2000 when a daycare facility came to suspect a four-year old girl was being abused. Cuyahoga County Children’s Services was notified and had begun an investigation when the little girl ended up being killed by her mother. The Court held:

· A public children services agency, upon receipt of a case referral, does not have a duty under ORC §2151.421 to cross-report the case to law-enforcement officials and are immune to liability from failing to do so;
· Because Ohio’s child endangerment statute does not expressly impose a liability on a political subdivision, it is immune to liability under that statute;
· Recklessness necessarily requires something more than mere negligence, and in order to act in a “reckless manner” an actor must be conscious that his conduct will in all probability result in injury.

The second case was also out of Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, stemming from a 2003 encounter in which a young girl was sexually assaulted by her father during a supervised visit at the Cuyahoga County Family Services’ Hunter Social Services Center. Here the Court decided that “Pursuant to ORC § 2744.02(A)(1) the department cannot be subjected to liability unless one of the exceptions provided for in § 2744.02(B) applies.”