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Supreme Court to Decide Limits of Law Enforcement Liability in Domestic Case

By Janice G. Inman

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by Jessica Gonzales against the city of Castle Rock, CO. Cert. granted by Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 160 L. Ed. 2d 316 (U.S. 2004). This civil rights case, which is being watched closely by municipal governments and women's rights advocates nationwide, asks whether a court-issued domestic restraining order, whose enforcement is mandated by a state statute, creates a property interest protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court held it does not, and dismissed the action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

On appeal, a panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's dismissal of Gonzales' substantive due process claim, but reversed as to the district court's procedural due process determination. Gonzales v. City of Castle Rock, 307 F.3d 1258 (10th Cir. 2002). The panel held the restraining order, coupled with the Colorado statute mandating the enforcement of such orders (see Colo. Rev. Stat. ' 18-6-803.5(3)), established a protected property interest in the enforcement of the restraining order which could not be taken away by the government without procedural due process. The panel concluded, therefore, that Gonzales' procedural due process claim could proceed against the town and the individual police officers who failed to enforce the order. On rehearing en banc, the Tenth Circuit agreed with the panel's decision regarding the city of Castle Rock, but held that the individual police officers were entitled to qualified immunity. Gonzales v. City of Castle Rock, 366 F.3d 1093 (10th Cir. 2004).

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