Date: 07-16-2024

Case Style:

Megan Marie McMurray v. Midland Independent School District, et al.

Case Number: 7:20-cv-00242

Judge: David Counts

Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Midland County)

Plaintiff's Attorney:

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Defendant's Attorney: Andrea L. Mooney, Dennis J. Eichelbaum, Kathryn E. Long, Scott Walker Thomas

Description:

Midland, Texas civil rights lawyer represented the Plaintiff who sued on a fourteenth amendment violation theory.

Officer Kevin Brunner removed a child from her home during a child
endangerment investigation. The child and her parents sued Brunner,
claiming the removal violated the child’s Fourth Amendment rights and the
parents’ Fourteenth Amendment rights. Asserting qualified immunity,
Brunner moved to dismiss. The district court denied Brunner’s motion


In October 2018, Megan and Adam McMurry lived in a gated
apartment complex in Midland, Texas with their daughter and son, J.M. and
C.M. Ms. McMurry was a teacher at Abell Junior High School, part of the
Midland Independent School District. Mr. McMurry served in the National
Guard and was then deployed to Kuwait and Syria. J.M. was fourteen years
old and homeschooled online and C.M. was twelve years old and attended
AJHS at the time of the events of this case.

While Mr. McMurry was deployed, Ms. McMurry was away
exploring teaching opportunities in Kuwait from October 25 to October 30,
2018; she arranged for her neighbors, Gabriel and Vanessa Vallejos, to look
after J.M. and C.M., as they had done before when she was away. Ms.
McMurry also arranged for coworkers to take C.M. to school.

The day after Ms. McMurry left, the school counselor scheduled to
drive C.M. to school fell sick and asked an MISD police officer, Alexandra
Weaver, if she could drive C.M. while Ms. McMurry was out of town.
Weaver did not take C.M. to school, but the counselor got another AJHS
faculty member to drive C.M. Meanwhile, Weaver opened an investigation
into the children’s welfare, and told her supervisor, Officer Kevin Brunner,
of her conversation with the counselor. Brunner met in turn with other
faculty members who, while confirming that Ms. McMurry was traveling,
also told Brunner that neighbors were checking on the children.

Weaver meanwhile filed a complaint against Ms. McMurry with the
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (CPS). Brunner and
Weaver then traveled to the McMurry apartment to conduct a welfare check
on J.M. Brunner asked J.M. when Ms. Vallejos last checked on her and J.M.
said Ms. Vallejos had been over that morning.1 The officers told J.M. that
they would be taking her to another location. J.M. texted her father that the
police were at the McMurry apartment.

The officers took J.M. to the apartment complex’s conference room
for further questioning and ordered J.M. not to respond to her father who
repeatedly called and texted her. J.M. told an apartment complex staff
member that she wanted to reach her father, but when the staff member told
the officers this, Brunner refused to let J.M. call her father. Brunner called
Ms. Vallejos and asked her to meet them at AJHS. Brunner and Weaver then
took J.M. to the junior high school in the backseat of their police car. Ms.
Vallejos called J.M., but Brunner told J.M. that she could not take the call.
At the school, Brunner placed J.M. in an office. The Vallejoses came
and spoke to Brunner, stating that they had last seen the children the night
before. The Vallejoses were then allowed to see J.M. and they Facetimed Mr.
McMurry. That afternoon, CPS investigated the status of the children but
found no neglect or unreasonable risk of harm and sent the children home
with the Vallejoses.

Brunner nonetheless continued his investigation and filed probable
cause affidavits on December 2 and 4, 2018, to obtain an arrest warrant for
Ms. McMurry. In January 2020, a jury acquitted Ms. McMurry of the
charges of abandoning or endangering her children.

After the acquittal, the McMurrys sued Brunner under 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983. J.M. asserted that Brunner violated her Fourth Amendment right to
be free from unreasonable seizures. Mr. and Ms. McMurry asserted that
Brunner violated their rights to substantive and procedural due process under
the Fourteenth Amendment by taking J.M. from their home. Brunner moved
to dismiss, asserting qualified immunity.

Outcome: The district court concluded that Brunner was not entitled to qualified
immunity as to J.M.’s Fourth Amendment claim and the McMurrys’
Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process claims but found that
qualified immunity protected Brunner from the McMurrys’ substantive due
process claim. Brunner timely appealed.

Affirmed.

07/16/2024 137 ORDER DENYING 134 Motion to Certify Appeal as Frivolous and Dilatory. Signed by Judge David Counts. (kg) (Entered: 07/16/2024)

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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