Fellows v. Coombs

N/A

OUTCOME: $1.3 million recovery

In the case of Fellows v. Coombs (Multnomah County Circuit Court Case No. 9909-09837), two young children who were wards of the court were returned to the physical custody of a mildly mentally retarded ... mother and a violent and abusive father. Father was removed after committing further abuse against mother, and mother was left to cope with two young children, and then became pregnant with her third child. For over a year, the court had no notice of the developments of the case and 5 DHS caseworkers came and went, each of them mishandling the case. Ultimately, the mother killed her baby daughter in the presence of her young son. Associating with attorney Elden Rosenthal, we brought a civil rights and negligence suit against the Department of Human Services and the caseworkers involved, and as well against the children’s attorney. The case was ultimately settled for $1.3 million dollars ($1 million against DHS), the highest recorded settlement against DHS. As part of the settlement, DHS agreed to (and has) radically reformed their policies in these types of cases. After the case, I drafted legislation exempting minor children from having to give a tort claims notice to the State, when the State is the custodian of the children, and such legislation was enacted. The case required an strong knowledge of the juvenile court system, social service system, civil rights, and negligence law. Notwithstanding the tragic circumstances of the case, the end result was a substantial fund set up for the surviving child, important changes to DHS’ policies and a small but important change in Oregon’s tort claims notice law.