Domestic Relations: Child Custody-Emergency Protective Custody-Untimely Hearing

Plaintiff alleged that, two days after completing five days in jail, defendants petitioned the state juvenile court to maintain the protective custody they had over plaintiff’s children. Plaintiff alleged that defendants failed to afford her a hearing on the protective custody within the time mandated by state law and unlawfully seized her children due to a lack of reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect. The district court dismissed plaintiff’s claim as moot and ruled that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine barred plaintiff’s claims.

Where delays in plaintiff’s protective custody hearing was not traceable to defendants’ actions, when defendants timely swore out affidavits after removing the children, plaintiff’s claim failed.

Judgment is affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

Webb v. Smith (MLW No. 73854/Case No. 18-2541 – 12 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Arnold, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas (Lucien Ramseur Gillham, of Benton, AR for appellant; Luther O’Neal Sutter, of Benton, AR on brief) (Robert Thomas James, AAG, of Little Rock, AR for appellee; Maryna O. Jackson, AAG, of Little Rock, AR on brief)