Losing a child is always hard, especially when the death could have been prevented. One father who lost a child in such a manner recently decided to file a wrongful death lawsuit against those he feels are responsible for his child’s untimely death, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Eric Gillispie lost his three-month-old daughter, Raynna Rae Boggs, in May 2010 when the child’s mother “passed out on top of her while under the influence of drugs and alcohol at her home in South Charleston.”
Losing a child is always hard, especially when the death could have been prevented. One father who lost a child in such a manner recently decided to file a wrongful death lawsuit against those he feels are responsible for his child’s untimely death, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Eric Gillispie lost his three-month-old daughter, Raynna Rae Boggs, in May 2010 when the child’s mother “passed out on top of her while under the influence of drugs and alcohol at her home in South Charleston.”
The lawsuit itself was filed back in April 2012 and named the “DHHR and former DHHR secretary Michael J. Lewis” as defendants. However, now “current DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch has taken over the suit as it progresses through the court system.” But what are the charges the lawsuit brought forward? For starters, it alleges that “Child Protective Services employees failed to thoroughly investigate a report he made to the agency about Raynna’s mother, Leslie Erin Boggs, three weeks before Raynna died.”
However, the DHHR, along with Boggs and her mother, pushed back against the lawsuit, claiming “Gillispie failed to demonstrate that CPS employees’ actions violated any of his constitutional or other legal rights.”
It should be noted that Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster “denied a motion for summary judgment in the DHHR’s favor” in December of 2016. When explaining her decision, Webster said “the CPS employees did not meet the threshold for qualified immunity because their duties in investigating reports to CPS were clearly defined in state law.” What is qualified immunity, though? For starters, in court, it “provides some protection for public employees, including social workers and police officers, for actions they commit while doing their jobs.”
Additionally, according to Webster’s order, “the West Virginia Supreme Court previously ruled that when a certain task of a public employee’s job isn’t clearly defined by the law, a public employee can use his or her discretion to complete the task.”
In previous cases and Supreme Court decisions, it was determined that “instances of possible qualified immunity must be considered on a case-by-case basis, depending on the person’s job and the actions he or she committed.” In terms of this recent lawsuit filed by Mr. Gillispie, Webster said “CPS guidelines in 2010 clearly defined how CPS employees investigated certain reports, and the employees named in the lawsuit did not follow the guidelines.”
As for the child’s mother, Leslie Erin Boggs? Well, right now she’s “incarcerated at Lakin Correctional Center in Mason County, where she is serving a three- to 15-year sentence after she pleaded guilty to one count of child neglect.” What do you think? Does the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources share blame for the death of Mr. Gillispie’s daughter?
Sources:
Infant’s wrongful death case goes before state Supreme Court
Justices to determine whether WV DHHR liable in infant’s death
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