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Mark G. v. Sabol6/23/1998
Appeals and cross appeals from orders of the Supreme Court, New York County (Walter Tolub, J.), entered June 3, 1996, June 28, 1996, July 3, 1996, July 9, 1996 and July 11, 1996, which, inter alia, granted in part and denied in part the City's motion for partial summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs' causes of action seeking, monetary damages for, inter alia, violations of Federal and State child welfare statutes.
The principal issue presented is the effect of Federal funding statutes on State social services programs and whether the acceptance by the States of such funding creates an individual right enforceable pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1881 as codified in 42 USC § 1983 for parties aggrieved by failures in such State programs. The answer varies from statute to statute and must be determined by the specific provisions of each statute. All of these statutes are intended to benefit the recipients of the State social services. The determinative question, however, is whether an aggrieved plaintiff is intended to be a direct or indirect beneficiary of such funding.
These cross-appeals arise from four actions brought on behalf of the children in four families who, to varying degrees, are alleged to have been victimized by our foster care system and seek relief against defendants under various theories, including violations of Federal and State child welfare statutes and their rights under the United States and New York constitutions.
The original action was commenced by the A and B families in October 1985. The F and G families served intervening complaints in April 1991 and March 1992, respectively. The Bronx Public Administrator also served an intervening complaint in March 1992 on behalf of the estate of Alan G., who was beaten to death by his father on March 5, 1990.
On a previous appeal, in Martin A v Gross (153 AD2d 812), we affirmed the grant of a preliminary injunction (138 Misc 2d 212 [Elliott Wilk, J.]) to ensure compliance by the City defendants with the non-discretionary requirements of Social Services Law §§ 409-a (1)(a) and 409-e that a plan for the provision of preventive services to avoid unnecessary foster care placement of the affected children be developed within certain mandatory timetables.
Since our decision in Martin A. v Gross (supra), plaintiffs have withdrawn their request for class certification and all claims for injunctive and declaratory relief. They now seek only monetary damages for the individual plaintiffs.
In four of these cross-appeals, which have been consolidated, plaintiffs appeal the dismissal of virtually all their claims on defendants' motion for partial summary judgment, while defendants cross appeal, seeking dismissal of plaintiffs' remaining claims under Article 4 of the Social Services Law (§§ 409 et seq.)
and Article XVII of the New York State Constitution.
The other cross-appeals, ordered to be heard with the foregoing consolidated cross-appeals, arise from the personal injury and wrongful death claims brought by the Public Administrator on behalf of the estate of Alan G.. There, defendants appeal the partial denial of their motion to dismiss such claims on Statute of Limitations grounds, while the Public Administrator cross-appeals to the extent that the claims for wrongful death were dismissed.
Primarily, plaintiffs contend that they are entitled to pursue a private right of action pursuant to the Federal child welfare statutes in issue, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (AACWA) and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), essentially relying upon the interlocutory District Court decisions in Marisol A. v G
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