Federal judges this week dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by an Aurora city council member against the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services after a social worker tried to accuse her of child sexual abuse.
Aurora City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky accused the department and former employee Robin Niceta of violating her constitutional rights to due process and equal protection after Niceta called a child abuse hotline in 2022 to fraudulently claim that Jurinsky had abused her own son.
Niceta was found guilty last year of attempting to influence a public official and of falsely reporting child abuse. She pleaded guilty earlier this week to additional charges of falsifying a brain cancer diagnosis in an attempt to avoid liability in the first case.
Judges Scott Matheson Jr., Carolyn McHugh and Timothy Tymkovich of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Oct. 7 that Jurinsky’s class action suit against Niceta and the department could not move forward, consistent with an earlier ruling by Judge Philip Brimmer of the federal district court. .
The judges ruled that Jurinsky did not provide facts to support the claim that Niceta acted under color of state law, nor did she support claims that the county interfered with her relationship with her son or treated her differently than others facing similar situations. had to make.
“Although the amended complaint alleged serious misconduct, it did not meet the theories of liability that Ms. Jurinsky intended to pursue in this case,” the Oct. 7 ruling said.
Jurinsky said Friday that she does not plan to appeal the ruling but was grateful for the opportunity to shed light on the struggles of other families who, like Jurinsky’s, say the department wrongly deprived them of their has divorced or attempted to divorce children.
“Even for a day or a week, these people had to make their voices heard,” Jurinsky said. “I have taken this fight as far as I have for other people who had no voice.”
Anders Nelson, a spokesman for Arapahoe County, said the county had no comment on the ruling.
Jurinsky’s lawsuit was filed in 2022 and first dismissed by Brimmer in 2023.
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