Judge Upholds Family’s Right to Day in Court

Arizona


April 1, 2010
Judge Upholds Family’s Right to Day in Court
In a federal lawsuit filed March 3, 2006, and reported earlier in the Home School Court Report, HSLDA sued two child protective service workers who showed up at the Loudermilk family’s door, accompanied by numerous sheriff’s deputies, two months after an anonymous tipster had reported the family.

After winning the first round almost three years ago, when the judge ruled in the family’s favor in refusing to dismiss the case, we have been fighting the state’s attempt to have the investigators declared immune from litigation. The state argued that the family had voluntarily allowed the investigators into the home—an assertion that ignores the fact the social worker had said the Loudermilk children would be removed for 72 hours if the parents did not permit entry!

On March 31, 2010, the judge denied the state’s motion for summary judgment, stating that “The disputed questions of fact on these [consent] issues … preclude summary judgment.” He ruled that a jury must determine whether the Loudermilks were coerced by the CPS investigators and sheriff’s deputies.

“We are grateful that the judge is taking this matter seriously and making sure that a family’s right to be together is protected,” said Darren Jones, staff attorney with HSLDA. “The Loudermilks are doing a service to all families by their willingness to stand up against unjustified state intervention, not just at the initial contact, but for the four years this case has been going on.”

http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/az/201004010.asp