A sheriff’s department receiving a 911 report of suspected child abuse can be liable for not forwarding the report to the relevant child welfare agency, even though a deputy sheriff’s investigation of the report found no reason for further action; the deputy had no such reporting duty, however. So holds the Supreme Court today in B.H. v. County of San Bernardino.
The court’s 6-1 opinion is authored by Justice Ming Chin. Justice Goodwin Liu dissents in part, concluding that the sheriff’s deputy should have a reporting duty along with the sheriff’s department.
The court affirms the Fourth District, Division Two, Court of Appeal as to the sheriff’s deputy, but reverses that court as to the sheriff’s department. Also, the Supreme Court disapproves in part a 1999 decision by the Second District, Division Seven, Court of Appeal.
