Fogarty-Hardwick v. County of Orange: Ninth Circuit Affirms Verdict Against Social Workers Who Fabricated Evidence
A California jury awarded Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick $4.9 million (with fees and interest exceeding $9.5 million) after finding Orange County social workers Marcia Vreeken and Helen Dwojak fabricated and suppressed evidence to remove her two daughters in a custody dispute in which Fogarty-Hardwick had complained publicly and to counsel about the county's handling of her case. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in 2011.
In 2000, Orange County Social Services Agency workers removed Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick's two young daughters during a custody dispute. Fogarty-Hardwick had complained to supervisors and later to counsel about the caseworker's conduct. She filed a Section 1983 suit alleging that Vreeken and Dwojak fabricated evidence and gave perjured testimony in juvenile-dependency court. A federal jury in 2007 returned a $4.9 million verdict; the trial court awarded significant attorneys' fees, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment in Fogarty-Hardwick v. County of Orange (9th Cir. 2011). The case is repeatedly cited in Section 1983 practice guides as authority for parents' First and Fourteenth Amendment claims against child-welfare workers who retaliate or fabricate evidence in dependency proceedings.