Castle Rock v. Gonzales

Plaintiff sought and received a restraining order against her estranged husband, ordering him to stay away from her and their three daughters. The order included language to law enforcement officials dictating that such officials “shall use every reasonable means to enforce this restraining order.” Law enforcement was told to arrest the restrained party when it had probable cause to believe the restrained person has violated the restraining order. This language was a restatement of a state law describing law enforcement duties related to the crime of violation of a restraining order. While the restraining order was in effect, Plaintiff’s husband took their three daughters in violation of the order. Plaintiff contacted the Defendant police department and reported the violation. The officers told her there was nothing they could do and that she should call again if the children were not returned by 10 pm. Plaintiff’s husband called her at 8:30 pm to tell her he had the children at an amusement park. Plaintiff again notified the police and asked them to arrest her husband. The police officers again told her to call back at 10 pm. Plaintiff called at 10 pm and was told to call again at midnight. Plaintiff called at midnight and was told that an officer was coming to her home. No officers arrived, so Plaintiff went to the police station to file a report at 12:50 am. The officer made no efforts on behalf of Plaintiff’s complaint and instead went to dinner. At 3:20 am, Plaintiff’s husband arrived at the police station and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun he had purchased earlier in the evening. He was shot and killed by responding officers. Police then found the bodies of his three deceased daughters in his pickup truck. Plaintiff sued Defendant, alleging that she had a property right in the enforcement of the restraining order and that the municipality’s failure to enforce the order violated the Due Process Clause when it violated her property right without due process by acting in accordance with an official policy or custom of ignoring violations of restraining orders and tolerating the failure to enforce such orders by its police officers. Plaintiff further alleged that the town’s actions were willful, reckless, or grossly negligent. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari. [The remainder of the procedural posture is not included in the casebook excerpt.]