Does ‘Special Relationship’ Void Immunity of Child Service Agencies, Employees from Civil Lawsuits?
Cherita Rankin et al. v. C.C.D.C.F.S., et al., Case no. 2007-0306 8th District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) ISSUE: Does the common law doctrine that a “special relationship” between a government agency or official and a party may create an individual duty to that party supersede the general immunity of county children service agencies and their employees from civil liability arising from the performance of their governmental functions? BACKGROUND: In this case the Supreme Court is asked to review the applicability of Ohio’s “sovereign immunity” statute, R.C. Chapter 2744, to a case in which a mother seeks to recover money damages from the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services (CCDCFS), and from the department’s director and one of its employees, for failing to protect her three-year-old daughter from being sexually molested by the child’s father during a supervised visitation at a CCDCFS facility. Cherita Rankin of Cleveland filed suit against CCDCFS, departm
