M.E. v. Chiles

No. 90-1008-CIV-KEHOE (S.D. Fla. Apr. 9, 1998). ; Clearinghouse Number: 45828

Description

Court Certifies Class in Challenge to Florida’s Failure to Provide Mental Health Treatment to Children in State Custody

Abstract

The court certified a class and denied defendants’ motion to abstain in this action challenging Florida’s failure to provide mental health treatment to children in legal or physical custody of the state. Plaintiffs alleged that, in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, and the substantive due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the State provides only a fraction of the mental health treatment that it has determined exists for children in its custody. The court certified a class of children who are now or in the future will be in the physical or legal custody of the state, including children who are dependent or delinquent, whom the State knows or should know have a need for mental health services or developmental services. In a separate order the court denied defendants’ motion to abstain from hearing federal statutory and constitutional claims. According to the court, the Younger abstention doctrine, enunciated in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971), does not apply because this litigation will not interfere with any ongoing state proceedings involving the same plaintiffs and because those state proceedings do not afford the plaintiffs an adequate opportunity to raise the federal statutory and constitutional challenges which are the subject of this case. Neither does the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, developed from District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983), and Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923), apply because the plaintiffs did not have a "reasonable opportunity" to raise their federal claims in state proceedings.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Plaintiffs represented by Christina A. Zawisza, Children First Project, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law School, 3305 College Ave., Suite 325, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33313; 954.262.6027.
Docket Date
1998-04-09 00:00:00+00:00