United States Fourth Circuit

In a suit arising out of the death of plaintiff's son during training to join a fire department, summary judgment against plaintiffs on their claim of substantive due process violations is affirmed where: 1) there was a presumption against a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 claim since it overlaps state tort law and the death was not intended; 2) there was no deliberate indifference as there is no general rule that time to deliberate transforms negligent error into constitutionally shocking conduct; 3) there was no "special relationship" between the deceased and a trainer since their relationship was not custodial; and 4) the state-created danger theory was inapplicable since due process does not impose a duty on municipalities to provide their employees with a safe workplace or warn them against risks of harm. Additionally, summary judgment against plaintiffs on their state constitutional claims is reversed and their state tort law claims remanded to state court as federal due process protections do not necessarily dictate the full complement of safeguards under the state constitution.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/02/2008
• Published 06/02/2008

Judges

• Before WILKINSON, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Peter Tyler Enslein, Law Office of Peter T. Enslein, P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellants.  Thomas Vincent McCarron, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, Maryland;  Scott M. Hartinger, Ethridge, Quinn, McAuliffe, Rowan & Hartinger, Rockville, Maryland, for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  Kenneth M. Berman, H. David Leibensperger, Berman, Sobin & Gross, L.L.P., Gaithersburg, Maryland;  Patrick S. Guilfoyle, Law Office of Peter T. Enslein, P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellants.  Christopher J. Lyon, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees.