Free Memorandum in Opposition to Motion - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:01-cv-01908-AVC

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Filed 01/29/2004

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT JOHN WARD Plaintiff v. ROBERT MURPHY, et al. Defendant : : : : : : : CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:01CV1908 (AVC)

JANUARY 26, 2004

STATE DEFENDANTS' OBJECTION TO MOTION TO DELAY PROCEEDINGS UNTIL THE JUVENILE COURT DECIDES WHETHER TO OPEN THE JUVENILE COURT RECORD FOR PURPOSES OF JUDICIAL AND COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL The Defendants, employees of the Department of Children and Families, Robert Murphy, Ralph Arnone, Roger Lima, Sandra Liquindoli and Edward Federci, (hereinafter, "State Defendants") herein object to the plaintiff's request for a delay of the proceedings. The grounds for said objection are as follows: (1) On January 14, 2004, the Juvenile Court, (Black, J.), held a hearing regarding the

plaintiff's request to open the juvenile record which was not filed by the plaintiff until November 2003. (2) The Court, (Black, J.), indicated it would review the record to determine if there was any

information that needed to be forwarded to the federal court for purposes of a trial on this matter. There are no transcripts of the juvenile court proceedings in the file and the plaintiff has not ordered any transcripts. (3) The Court (Black, J.), specifically indicated it would not be addressing the issues of

collateral estoppel. (4) The plaintiff has had since November of 1998 to obtain access to and seek disclosure of

the juvenile record for purposes of his lawsuit. He has had since the first Motion for Summary

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Judgment was filed by the State on February 11, 2003 to seek disclosure. He has also had since the October 22, 2003 Discovery Conference to obtain the juvenile court record. (5) The State defendants have already stipulated through the pleadings in this matter that the

Juvenile Court, (Eveleigh, J.) vacated the Order of Temporary Custody (OTC). There are no transcripts of the juvenile court proceeding in the file. (6) Collateral estoppel or issue preclusion does not apply in a §1983 action against social

workers where the prior action being claimed to have preclusive effect was an Order of Temporary Custody (OTC) hearing where the issue is whether a child should remain in DCF custody and the parties include the parents, the child and the State of Connecticut. In the current action, the issue concerns whether the social workers were reasonable in their decision to remove the child and the parties to the action are one parent and the social workers as individuals. There is no identity of issues or parties and the individual defendants did not have a fair opportunity to litigate the issues of a civil rights action. See Kulak v. City of New York, 88 F.3d 63, 71-72 (1996). (7) The plaintiff is seeking to unnecessarily delay these proceedings and his request for an

indeterminate delay after numerous extensions have already been granted should be denied. He had cited no valid legal arguments for the necessity of the juvenile court records. Wherefore, the State Defendants respectfully object to the plaintiff's Motion to Delay Proceedings Until the Juvenile Court Decides Whether to Open the Juvenile Court Record for Purposes of Judicial and Collateral Estoppel and respectfully requests that the Motion be denied and the State Defendants' objection be sustained.

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STATE DEFENDANTS BY: RICHARD BLUMENTHAL ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:

_________________________________ Carolyn Signorelli Assistant Attorney General Federal Bar No.ct 17534 55 Elm Street, 3rd Fl. Annex Hartford, CT 06l06 Tel: (860) 808-5160 Fax: (860) 808-5384 e-mail:[email protected]

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CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing was mailed in accordance with Rule 5(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on this 27th day of January, 2004, first class postage prepaid to: Mr. John Ward 18 Garmella Boulevard Danbury, CT 06810 James Williams, Esq. Williams, Walsh & O'Connor 110 Washington Avenue, 2nd Fl. North Haven, CT 06473 Stephen Fogerty, Esq. Halloran & Sage, LLP 315 Post Road West Westport, CT 06880 Heidi M. Cilano, Esq. Garie J. Mulcahey, Esq. Bai, Pollock, Blueweiss & Mulcahey, P.C. 10 Middle Street Bridgeport, CT 06604

_______________________________ Carolyn Signorelli Assistant Attorney General

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