{"id":5103,"date":"2021-05-15T09:14:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T13:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/?p=5103"},"modified":"2021-05-15T09:14:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T13:14:45","slug":"federal-court-jury-lowers-the-boom-on-dss-awards-4-6-million-to-father-and-daughter-over-illegal-custody-documents-and-illegal-actions-intimidation-and-illegal-threats-the-county-dss-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/2021\/05\/15\/federal-court-jury-lowers-the-boom-on-dss-awards-4-6-million-to-father-and-daughter-over-illegal-custody-documents-and-illegal-actions-intimidation-and-illegal-threats-the-county-dss-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Jury lowers the BOOM on DSS!!!   Awards $4.6 million to Father and Daughter over illegal custody documents and illegal actions!!! Intimidation and illegal Threats!!!   The County, DSS, DSS Director and DSS Lawyer were in cahoots!!!    County taxpayers are most likely liable to have to pay up!!!   Cleveland County Commissioners better pay very close attention!!!     Report, arguendo and \u201cI told you so\u2019s\u201d by Robert A. Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5103?print=pdf\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/pdf.png\" alt=\"image_pdf\" title=\"View PDF\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5103?print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><\/a><\/div><p><strong>Editor\u2019s Note:<br \/>\nThis case will be heard \u201caround the world\u201d by those thousands upon thousands who have been screwed over royally by the Departments of Social Services. But, don\u2019t believe me. Read these series of news articles developed by the Carolina 10 Public Press for yourselves!!!  <\/p>\n<p>Editor\u2019s Note II:<br \/>\nCarolina Public Press is an independent nonprofit news organization dedicated to nonpartisan, in-depth and investigative news built upon the facts and context North Carolinians need to know. Our award-winning, breakthrough journalism dismantles barriers and shines a light on the critical overlooked and under-reported issues facing our state\u2019s 10.2 million residents. Your support funds important public interest journalism.<\/p>\n<p>Editor\u2019s Note III:<br \/>\nThese series of articles are from the start to the finish of a major Federal Case in Asheville, NC. For maximum impact, please start here and read straight through. I will give you a hint. The Jury ruled against DSS et al and awarded the Father and daughter $4.6 Million. This and a few other such rulings and I believe County Commissioners everywhere in North Carolina will be paying more attention into oversight of those rogue DSS agencies and the rogues that work there. Including the Cleveland County DSS.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"b6XpP3bwly\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/carolinapublicpress.org\/45430\/a-federal-case-violated-rights-versus-best-interests-of-child\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">A federal case: Violated rights versus &#8216;best interests&#8217; of child<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;A federal case: Violated rights versus &#8216;best interests&#8217; of child&#8221; &#8212; Carolina Public Press\" src=\"https:\/\/carolinapublicpress.org\/45430\/a-federal-case-violated-rights-versus-best-interests-of-child\/embed\/#?secret=FZG51hHRYz#?secret=b6XpP3bwly\" data-secret=\"b6XpP3bwly\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Federal civil trial to put DSS practices on hot seat<br \/>\nState courts previously held child visitation agreements parents in Cherokee County were forced to sign unlawful. County and former officials face trial in lawsuit over practice.<br \/>\nBy Kate Martin  May 3, 2021<br \/>\nA federal jury in Asheville will decide later this month whether Cherokee County and its Department of Social Services leaders should pay damages to a father for taking his daughter from him without a judge\u2019s oversight.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of about a decade, social workers in Cherokee County used a document called a \u201ccustody and visitation agreement\u201d to sever parental rights and place children with other guardians.<\/p>\n<p>Three years ago, District Court Judge\u00a0Tessa Sellers\u00a0in Murphy\u00a0ruled the documents, also called CVAs, did not carry the force of law and were the \u201cproduct of both actual and constructive fraud on behalf of the Cherokee County Department of Social Services, its agents and employees, and attorney\u00a0Scott Lindsay\u00a0and DSS Director\u00a0Cindy Palmer.\u201d During the hearing, she voided all instances of the document, some of which a former worker has testified are missing.<\/p>\n<p>Even though dozens of families, involving possibly more than 100 children, were separated by these acts by DSS and its workers, this federal lawsuit revolves around the circumstances of one family:\u00a0Brian Hogan\u00a0and his daughter. Social workers took the girl from him and placed her in the custody of his father in late 2016, after his wife was hospitalized with a massive heart attack and he\u2019d spent several days in Asheville with her.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan told The Associated Press in 2018 that social workers threatened to throw him in jail, put his daughter in foster care or allow another family to adopt his daughter if he didn\u2019t sign the paperwork they presented him with \u2014 the CVA forms.<br \/>\nWithout a judge or an attorney representing him, and under pressure from social workers, Hogan signed the papers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey gave me no choice,\u201d Hogan told the AP in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Other parents have said they felt\u00a0similarly pressured or threatened\u00a0by social workers into signing these documents, while having no legal representation of their own.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys for neither party spoke with CPP for this article, either by not responding to inquiries or saying they could not speak before the trial. A jury will ultimately decide whether to award damages and if so, how much, after a trial lasting several days in the Western District of North Carolina\u2019s federal court.<\/p>\n<p>In early 2018, attorneys representing Hogan and his daughter sued Cherokee County and two officials who have since resigned their positions \u2014 the then-DSS Director Cindy Palmer and Scott Lindsay, who served both as the county and the DSS attorney.<\/p>\n<p>Though Palmer was suspended and resigned as director in mid-2018, she then immediately took a post as the DSS business officer, despite the ongoing State Bureau of Investigations criminal probe into her role with the CVAs. She remains employed there today.<\/p>\n<p>Both Palmer and Lindsay were also indicted by the state for their years of involvement with CVAs, along with former DSS supervisor\u00a0David Hughes. Altogether they face more than\u00a0three dozen felony and misdemeanor charges\u00a0related to CVAs dating to 2016. Palmer also faces a charge of perjury for\u00a0her testimony in 2018\u00a0when she said she did not know the department used CVAs until December 2017 \u2014 when the state Department of Health and Human Services asked about them.<\/p>\n<p>Defense brief says CVAs were harmless<\/p>\n<p>In the upcoming federal civil trial, three different attorneys represent Cherokee County, the county\u2019s DSS office and the two social services workers. Palmer and Lindsay are being sued both as individuals and as county officials and individually have their own defense counsel.<\/p>\n<p>According to a brief filed by defense attorneys, the plaintiff\u2019s lawyers won\u2019t be able to demonstrate harm to Hogan or his daughter. The brief says county social workers used CVAs in \u201cstuck\u201d DSS cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFormer DSS social worker Courtney Meyers described cases where children were \u2018not safe to go home because nothing that was of concern has been corrected and we\u2019re running out of time,\u2019\u201d the brief filed April 29 said. \u201cThe ultimate goal of having parents signing a CVA was to keep children safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The defense filings say neither Palmer nor Linsday was present when Hogan signed the CVA, which relinquished his daughter to his father \u2014 her grandfather\u00a0Warren Hogan. The defense says the Hogan family had previously been involved with the Department of Social Services between five and 10 times.<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiff questions lack of oversight<\/p>\n<p>Hogan\u2019s legal filings say the county failed to properly oversee the DSS office.<br \/>\n\u201cWhere a local government is faced with a pattern of misconduct and does nothing,\u201d one brief says, \u201cthe local government has acquiesced in or tacitly authorized its subordinates\u2019 unlawful actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the government knew there was a pattern of breaking law and policy. Because nobody did anything, the use of CVAs became an accepted local practice.<br \/>\nAttorneys say because the DSS board \u201cdid nothing to oversee DSS or prevent the unconstitutional use of the CVA process,\u201d it hired Palmer as director despite her not being qualified to hold the post. (Cindy Palmer is the wife of the elected Cherokee County sheriff, Derrick Palmer.)<\/p>\n<p>Though his family had been involved several times with DSS, Hogan was granted permanent custody of his daughter in January 2016 by District Court Judge Sellers after a hearing in which Palmer, Lindsay and\u00a0Darryl Brown\u00a0participated, the plaintiff\u2019s attorneys state. At the time, Brown was the guardian ad litem, or attorney for the child. Now, in addition to those duties, Brown serves as Cherokee County\u2019s attorney and the Sheriff\u2019s Office attorney.<\/p>\n<p>By this time, a plaintiff\u2019s brief says, the use of CVAs \u201cwas so commonplace by 2016 that it had been used to remove 39 children from their parents\u2019 custody in 2016 and 2017 (excluding Hogan\u2019s daughter) without due process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That spring, though, the Hogan family again came to the attention of DSS. This time, county workers presented him with a CVA in November 2016, which he said he signed under duress.<\/p>\n<p>More than a year later, in December 2017, Hogan again fought for custody of his daughter, this time before District Court Judge Monica Leslie, where Lindsay represented Cherokee County DSS and Brown as the attorney for the child in his role as guardian ad litem.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiff\u2019s trial brief says Lindsay told Leslie in the judge\u2019s chambers that he knew of \u201cat least 20 CVAs like the one signed by Hogan. When Judge Leslie asked Lindsay what statutory or legal authority he relied upon in drafting the CVAs, he admitted that there was \u2018none.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That day, Leslie found the CVA removing Hogan\u2019s daughter was \u201cnot a valid legal document and is not enforceable or binding and is hereby null and void,\u201d granting legal custody to Hogan.<\/p>\n<p>Two months later, in February 2018, Judge Sellers\u00a0voided all remaining CVAs, saying the process used to obtain signatures violated the constitutional rights of parents and was the \u201cproduct of both actual and constructive fraud on behalf of the Cherokee County Department of Social Services, its agents and employees and Attorney Scott Lindsay and Director Cindy Palmer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiff\u2019s briefs say both Palmer and Lindsay, throughout recent questioning during a pretrial deposition, frequently exercised their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.<\/p>\n<p>While in criminal trials pleading the Fifth cannot be held against a defendant, civil trials are another matter. Juries in federal civil trials can \u201cmake adverse inferences\u201d of improper conduct based on her refusal to answer questions under the Fifth Amendment,\u201d the plaintiff\u2019s brief states. \u201cIn particular, those adverse inferences establish that Lindsay acted with deliberate indifference to the rights of juveniles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Lindsay and Palmer decline to testify next week, Hogan\u2019s lawyers appear poised to use testimony Palmer and Lindsay gave from a 2018 trial involving custody of another child removed with a CVA.<\/p>\n<p>What was the motive?<\/p>\n<p>North Carolina is one of the few states where county social services offices, and not the state, are in charge of child welfare decisions. Inconsistencies in screening abuse cases from county to county led a legislative nonpartisan research group to recommend changes\u00a0to the state\u2019s child welfare system. State DHHS leaders indirectly oversee these local DSS offices in all 100 counties.<\/p>\n<p>The report by the Program Evaluation Division said nearly 1-in-4 counties used outside guidance in addition to state policy to decide a family\u2019s fate in the system.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the report, legislators have not enacted new legislation. However, not long afterward,\u00a0lawmakers disbanded the Program Evaluation Division, and its nonpartisan researchers are to be eventually replaced by partisan staffers.<\/p>\n<p>Once the state realized Cherokee County used CVAs, the state DHHS took over management of the county child welfare office for several months. In a first-of-its-kind temporary takeover, state workers trained Cherokee County\u2019s staff with the purpose of ensuring workers were getting the training they needed to handle these complex and sensitive child welfare cases.<\/p>\n<p>The state has also recently asked all county DSS agencies to sign a lengthy memorandum of understanding, which requires the county to provide training, submit data to the state, respond to communication from the state and comply with state and federal rules.<\/p>\n<p>Cherokee County commissioners, who now serve as the DSS board, have refused to sign the memorandum and instead have written a scathing letter back to DHHS blaming the \u201cclogged and lethargic\u201d District Court system.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioners write that they cannot meet state requirements for family reunification or case adjudication until the District Court system, which sees child welfare cases, is expanded to handle the swelling caseload in the seven westernmost counties of the state of the 30th Judicial District.<\/p>\n<p>Judicial District 1, which also has seven counties but is located in the eastern part of North Carolina, \u201cis managing approximately half the caseload as District 30.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of District 1\u2019s cases in 2017-18, 28% of its 556 child welfare hearings were continued. By comparison, District 30 had 3,263 hearings, of which 1,475 were continued, representing 45% of cases involving 595 children, the commissioners\u2019 letter states. Cherokee County had a higher continuance rate of 56%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith every continuance a child remains out of home care longer than necessary,\u201d the commissioners wrote in January. \u201c\u2026 Additionally, the actual costs to the county for unnecessary long-term foster care are exorbitant. Without attempting to demonstrate a complicated reimbursement system, the county share for children in foster care (at the state level of reimbursement) is approximately 50%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThus, when foster care is extended unnecessarily because of court continuances, both the state and Cherokee County suffer those costs too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Hogan\u2019s attorneys asked Lindsay whether he used the CVA process to avoid filing cases in court, he refused to answer the question, pleading his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, a brief states.<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>A federal case: Violated rights versus \u2018best interests\u2019 of child<\/p>\n<p>Federal civil trial underway Monday puts Cherokee County seizures of children without judicial authority under a magnifying glass.<\/p>\n<p>By Kate Martin  May 11, 2021<\/p>\n<p>ASHEVILLE \u2014 Lawyers for Brian Hogan said in opening arguments in a federal\u00a0civil trial\u00a0Monday that Cherokee County, its former director and former attorney broke state policies and violated Hogan\u2019s constitutional rights when they took his daughter away using a document they told him granted permanent custody to her grandfather.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorney Sean Perrin said in his own opening arguments that child welfare workers in Cherokee County and their supervisors oversaw 30 such agreements, called\u00a0Custody and Visitation Agreements, or CVAs, separating children from their parents. Perrin represents Cherokee County in the civil trial that is expected to include three or four days of testimony.<\/p>\n<p>Perrin and the defense attorneys for former Cherokee County Attorney\u00a0Scott Lindsay and former Department of Social Services Director Cindy Palmer argued that even though the CVAs were against state policy, the children were better off in other homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything done in this case was done in the child\u2019s best interest,\u201d Perrin told the jury during his opening statement. \u201cThe child was unsafe, there\u2019s no doubt about that here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The trial\u2019s outcome may hinge on whether the jury thinks the plaintiff\u2019s violated constitutional rights argument or the defense\u2019s \u201cbest interest\u201d argument will meet the standard that Chief Judge\u00a0Martin Reidinger set in his instructions to the eight jurors.<\/p>\n<p>If there is a preponderance of evidence, or it is more likely than not, that Hogan\u2019s constitutional rights were violated, the jurors ought to decide in favor of the plaintiff, Reidinger said. If it is more likely his rights were not violated, they ought to rule for the defendants.<\/p>\n<p>First-day testimony<\/p>\n<p>At issue in the trial are the circumstances of Hogan and his daughter after Hogan traveled to Asheville to tend to his wife, who had just had a massive heart attack, leaving his daughter in the care of neighbors. Carolina Public Press is not naming the girl because she is a minor.<\/p>\n<p>According to statements in court Monday, before Hogan signed the CVA, Amanda Edmondson, the girl\u2019s mother, had been previously involved with DSS. Hogan often worked long hours and lived away from Murphy to provide for his daughter. He and Edmondson were separated at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Former Cherokee County DSS worker Diana Garrett testified in court on behalf of the plaintiffs Monday that Edmondson was addicted to drugs and at one point had fallen behind on utility and rent payments. She would use drugs while the children stayed elsewhere in the trailer park they called home, according to Garrett\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n<p>While Hogan was out of town working, Garrett said, Edmondson tested positive for methadone, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine, sometimes multiple days in a row.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of this was taking place while he was out of town working,\u201d Garrett said.<\/p>\n<p>The environment was unsafe, so DSS petitioned a court for what amounts to emergency custody for Hogan\u2019s daughter. When Hogan returned, he cooperated with child welfare officials and granted temporary custody to his father, Warren Hogan.<\/p>\n<p>District Court Judge Tessa Sellers later oversaw a hearing where all parties, including DSS, agreed to give custody of the girl back to Hogan, Sellers testified Monday.<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, Edmondson had a heart attack, and Hogan went to be with her in Asheville while she recovered.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2016, Hogan signed the CVA granting permanent custody of his daughter to his father, Warren, until she turned 18 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Typical child welfare cases involve attorneys and judges at every step of the process, a fact that multiple former child protective services workers testified was a standard process in Cherokee County. All of the workers said they had been trained prior to working cases for Cherokee County and took state training. None of those trainings included anything related to CVAs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were always told (that) to have a case closed, we had to have a permanent solution to a case,\u201d Garrett said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou understand it was not legal and it was not valid?\u201d asked Melissa Jackson, one of Hogan\u2019s four attorneys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes ma\u2019am,\u201d Garrets said.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorneys pointed out Edmondson\u2019s prior involvement with DSS, but when Jackson asked if Hogan had previous DSS complaints other than being out of town, Garrett said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hogan regained custody of his daughter after presenting the CVA to District Court Judge Monica Leslie in December 2017.<\/p>\n<p>A \u2018stuck case\u2019<\/p>\n<p>All CVAs were invalidated by Sellers in February 2018 as a \u201cproduct of actual and constructive fraud\u201d by the DSS, former DSS and county attorney Lindsay, and Palmer.<\/p>\n<p>Former DSS worker Kate Brown testified on behalf of the plaintiff Monday that Child Protective Services workers used CVAs when they had a\u00a0\u201cstuck case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a case is hard and they don\u2019t have enough evidence to go to court,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Workers told parents that \u201cit was up to them if they sign it,\u201d Brown said. But they were led to believe that \u201cit was legally binding\u201d and \u201cthey had to go to court to undo it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Typically, if a child is placed in a home that is not licensed for foster care, DSS is required to assess the health of that environment. Parents are also entitled to legal representation, as is the child through the guardian ad litem program. In CVA cases, the health assessments were not done, and legal representation was not provided, Brown testified.<br \/>\nAll social workers said Lindsay had at some point told them to use a form letter to orchestrate the CVAs.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the legal process was not followed, all who worked for Cherokee County who testified Monday said they believed the child was better off in the new home than their previous circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>Former DSS worker Courtney Myers testified for the plaintiffs that Brown, then named Johnson, had questioned the legality of the forms during a staff meeting. Myers said she distinctly remembers Palmer being there by the distinctive sound of her spoon tapping against the side of her yogurt container during the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Myers said she was involved in about five such CVAs. Policy in Cherokee County, and in many places around the country, leans in favor of returning the child to the biological parents, she said. Barring that, social service workers aim to find a permanent home so the child is not bouncing from foster home to foster home. At some point, CVAs became common practice around the office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had parents tell me they weren\u2019t willing to stop drugs \u2014 not able to, didn\u2019t want to or wanted to give their child to grandma or grandpa,\u201d Myers said. \u201cAfter my first (CVA), it became another option for getting stuck cases closed. If (parents) weren\u2019t willing to work on their case plan, we had to find the kids some permanency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At one point, Myers said she asked Lindsay about the legality of the document because a father of one child could not be located initially.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we located him, he was arrested in Georgia,\u201d Myers testified. She then asked Lindsay if she should fax the CVA to that county jail. \u201cScott said whoever was the custodial parent (should sign). It was OK, that we didn\u2019t need to get that father\u2019s signature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas there a custody order?\u201d Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CVA stripped him of any rights to his child?\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n<p>What to expect next<\/p>\n<p>For the remainder of the week, witnesses are expected to include social workers, a school principal and expert witnesses. Lawyers for Hogan began presenting witness testimony on Monday and are expected to continue at least through Tuesday. Once they are done, the defense lawyers will have an opportunity to present their witnesses. After both sides present their evidence and make closing arguments, jurors will decide the outcome.<\/p>\n<p>The trial has broader implications. <\/p>\n<p>Additional families affected by the CVAs may pursue similar lawsuits. The outcome could also point to problems with child custody policies in Cherokee County and other counties, as well as with the\u00a0state\u2019s ability to hold them accountable.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, several of those named in the lawsuit in the federal civil case already face state criminal charges over the same issues.<\/p>\n<p>Palmer, Lindsay and a former social worker supervisor,\u00a0David Hughes,\u00a0were indicted by a Cherokee County\u00a0grand jury\u00a0last year on more than three dozen felony and misdemeanor charges related to the CVAs, involving more than two dozen children.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That matter has not yet been scheduled for trial, but an attorney from the law firm that represents Palmer in the criminal matter was also present in the courtroom Monday. <!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>Family separated by DSS offers emotional testimony in 2nd day of federal civil trial<\/p>\n<p>State judge testifies in federal trial that the unlawful agreements Cherokee County used to take children away from families were &#8216;shocking.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>By Kate Martin  May 12, 2021<\/p>\n<p>ASHEVILLE \u2014 Tuesday saw an emotional second day of testimony from witnesses for the plaintiff during a federal civil trial in Asheville, where a father is suing the Cherokee County Department of Social Services for taking his daughter away without judicial oversight.<\/p>\n<p>At issue is Cherokee County\u2019s use of a document called a Custody and Visitation Agreement, or CVA. Social workers testified that they told parents the CVAs had the force of law that only a judge could undo. However, a judge later tossed the agreement, returning Hogan\u2019s daughter to him. Another judge voided all other CVAs three months later, returning children to their families because CVAs are not lawful in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly every Cherokee County DSS worker who has so far testified said they used CVAs to close \u201cstuck cases\u201d \u2014 child welfare cases that had stalled, or that the department otherwise would not win outright in an official court hearing. When asked by defense attorneys whether they did it in the best interests of the child, all said yes.<\/p>\n<p>The number of CVA cases escalated in 2016, a former social work supervisor testified.<\/p>\n<p>Daughter and father testify<\/p>\n<p>One of the children named in a 2016 CVA took the stand on Tuesday. She was 10 when separated from her father,  Brian Hogan. Now 14 years old, the girl said she loved her parents and would have preferred to remain with them. Hogan described himself as a hard worker who loved his daughter. Carolina Public Press is not naming her because she is a minor.<\/p>\n<p>A social worker presented Hogan with a CVA document in November 2016, and he signed it. Social workers told Hogan \u2014 who is unable to write, cannot read complex words or cursive writing, and took special-education classes through ninth grade before dropping out \u2014 that his father, Warren Hogan, had permanent custody of his daughter until she turned 18.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Hogan talked of his upbringing with his father, whom he described as an abusive alcoholic. Hogan said he helped his father grow fields of marijuana from the time he was 7 years old. Hogan said he moved out when he was 16 years old and found jobs to support himself.<\/p>\n<p>He married Amanda Edmondson in 2005, and his daughter was born the next year. Hogan described the girl\u2019s birth as \u201cthe happiest day of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he played with her, took her to the park and enjoyed spending time with her. In 2015, when his daughter was 9, his wife had a massive heart attack. Hogan said he could choose to send his wife to the local hospital in Murphy or to Mission Hospital in Asheville. He said he chose Asheville because he heard it was the better hospital, he testified Tuesday. There the doctor said, \u201cShe\u2019s dying. We can\u2019t save her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hogan said he decided to temporarily leave his daughter in the care of neighbors and went to Asheville to spend time with Edmondson. At first, Hogan said the prognosis was dire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe doctor said she wasn\u2019t going to make it through the night,\u201d Hogan said. Three children came \u2014 two of Edmondson\u2019s children from a previous relationship as well as their daughter \u2014 to see their mother on what Hogan thought was her deathbed.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan described a night of prayer and a vigil in her hospital room during which he could not sleep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI prayed and prayed,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cAnd God saved her. God gave her back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his weekslong stay in Asheville with his wife, his daughter stayed with neighbors. Earlier in the day, the girl testified that she enjoyed the stay because she was also in the home of her best friend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was fun, because we did kid things,\u201d the girl testified Tuesday. She said they went to the park but mostly played video games.<\/p>\n<p>During Monday\u2019s testimony, social workers said school officials had complained that she smelled like cat urine when she arrived at school, giving Cherokee County DSS the basis for its investigation into Hogan\u2019s household.<\/p>\n<p>She was at that point taken from school to the DSS office in Murphy, where her grandfather, Warren Hogan, took her in. At the time the arrangement was supposed to be temporary, and it was with Brian Hogan\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n<p>When asked why he left her with his father, Brian Hogan said he had no one else to ask for help.<\/p>\n<p>A document he didn\u2019t understand<\/p>\n<p>After a few months passed, a Cherokee County DSS worker asked Brian Hogan to sign the CVA.<\/p>\n<p>Two social workers testified earlier in the trial that the document was intentionally formatted like a legal custody agreement. Hogan, who could not read well, did not have legal representation when he signed the document in November 2016. Neither did his daughter.<\/p>\n<p>All children in DSS court actions are represented by a lawyer with the guardian ad litem program. Parents who cannot afford an attorney are also appointed one.<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether DSS workers had ever checked on her when she lived with her grandfather, she said, \u201cThey didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although she \u201cliked living there in the beginning,\u201d she said her grandfather \u201cwas short-tempered about everything. If I did anything wrong, I\u2019d go to school crying basically every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The girl, then 10, said she had to wear long-sleeved shirts and jeans every day to school because he did not allow her to shave, not even her underarms.<\/p>\n<p>Her mother had not yet discussed periods with her, and when she menstruated for the first time while living with her grandfather, \u201cI thought I was dying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you talk to anyone about it?\u201d Hogan\u2019s attorney Melissa Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d the girl said. \u201cI was too scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She testified that her father and mother dropped off presents for her on birthdays and holidays. She said Brian Hogan called her every day after school was out and asked to talk to her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you get to talk to your dad?\u201d Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, because (my grandfather) didn\u2019t like my parents,\u201d the girl said. \u201cHe would say they were terrible people. He said if they wanted you, they would try harder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the occasions when she did get to see her parents, \u201cthey would cry a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>State judge on witness stand<\/p>\n<p>The girl\u2019s living situation changed on Dec. 7, 2017, when District Court Judge Monica Leslie saw a CVA for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was shocking,\u201d she testified Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Leslie testified Tuesday that she brought multiple lawyers into a jury room to talk about the document. Among them were Hogan\u2019s lawyer Jackson, the guardian ad litem Darryl Brown (who is also the Cherokee County attorney), then-DSS attorney for Cherokee County Scott Lindsay, and an attorney for DSS agencies in another county, David Moore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked (Lindsay) what are you going to do about this,\u201d Leslie testified. He said he did not know about this CVA until Ms. Jackson brought it to his attention.<\/p>\n<p>Leslie testified that Lindsay told her he would instruct social workers to no longer use the document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked how many more he knew about,\u201d Leslie testified. \u201cHe said he had received at least 20 via email. I said, \u2018Where are these being kept at DSS? Are they in the files?\u2019 He hemmed and hawed, and never answered that question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked what statutory or legal authority did you have to write something called a CVA?\u201d Leslie testified. \u201cHe said, \u2018None.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After that hearing in 2017, Leslie told the court Tuesday, she immediately called Wayne Black, then the state Department of Health and Human Services Division of Social Services director. Later the same day, a DHHS worker emailed then-Cherokee County DSS Director Cindy Palmer to inquire about the department\u2019s use of the document \u2014 an event that snowballed into a temporary state takeover of the county\u2019s Child Protective Services division, the first in state history.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing with Leslie affirmed the CVA was not enforceable, and Hogan had legal custody of his daughter all along. Despite being deprived of physical custody, DSS did not follow any legal procedure to grant permanent custody to Warren Hogan, she told the court Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Trauma of being moved around<\/p>\n<p>The girl testified that she was nervous to move back in with her parents, \u201cbut I was happy.\u201d She said she loved her parents and, if given the choice, would want to live with them.<\/p>\n<p>When Jackson asked the girl whether she ever saw her parents doing drugs, as DSS workers have alleged, the girl said no.<\/p>\n<p>When the girl returned to Brian Hogan\u2019s custody, she said she struggled, both mentally and at school. She started cutting herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s because I thought they wouldn\u2019t pay attention to me like they didn\u2019t at my grandpa\u2019s house,\u201d said the girl.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan described moving from one low-paying job to another to support his wife and daughter. His tax returns show $17,000 to $18,000 per year for the last two years, his attorneys said. Hogan said he is good with mechanical things. He never had formal training. He called it \u201ccommon sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jesse Raley, called as an expert witness in forensic psychiatry, said he interviewed the girl for around 2 1\/2 hours last year. She arrived at that interview dressed all in black, stone-faced and \u201cvery guarded,\u201d Raley testified.<\/p>\n<p>Even though she was initially guarded, as he interviewed her, he saw that she warmed up. He talked with her about a favorite hobby, and she talked with him about what it was like moving to live with her grandfather and then back with her parents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe had a very difficult time with that move,\u201d Raley testified Tuesday. \u201cNot because she didn\u2019t want to live with her grandpa or mom and dad. She perceived it was her fault and hurting the adults in her life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The girl told him she felt unstable, Raley testified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Why care about anyone because I was going to get moved again?\u2019\u201d he testified that she told him. \u201c\u2018Why get connected emotionally because it could all go away?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His testimony described a girl who was now deeply anxious, and he said she could benefit from therapy and other services.<\/p>\n<p>Did DHHS know?<\/p>\n<p>Two former social workers also gave conflicting accounts on whether DHHS \u2014 which oversees all DSS organizations statewide \u2014 knew or should have known about CVAs far sooner.<\/p>\n<p>DHHS was supposed to perform annual audits, said former DSS social worker Courtney Myers. During the audits, DHHS is supposed to review a random selection of case files.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were aware that some of the files contained CVAs?\u201d asked Sean Perrin, an attorney representing Cherokee County and its insurance company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDHHS never complained to the Cherokee County Department of Social Services about the use of the CVAs?\u201d Perin asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight,\u201d Myers testified.<\/p>\n<p>Former social work supervisor David Hughes took the stand as well. If DHHS ever pulled a file with a CVA within it, he wasn\u2019t told, Hughes testified.<\/p>\n<p>Saving time and money<\/p>\n<p>Hughes started working at Cherokee County DSS in 2011 as a social worker and became a supervisor in 2016. By then, cases were taking too long to get through the system, he testified Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were telling us we needed to get our cases turned over more quickly,\u201d Hughes testified.<\/p>\n<p>Often Cherokee DSS did not have enough child welfare social workers. In an 18-month period, eight social workers left. The pay was low, neighboring counties paid more for the same work, and the work was emotionally draining, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The county was also concerned about the cost of the cases, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was expensive to provide services,\u201d Moore testified. \u201cIf you don\u2019t provide services and go to the CVA, right, it\u2019s more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He testified these discussions happened after Cherokee County DSS lost three cases in one day. \u201cTwo were basically thrown out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Social workers were told how to record their time under specific billing codes, which referenced whether Cherokee County, the state or the federal government would pay.\u00a0Payments to those entities were determined by a three-digit number.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were told what numbers we should be using, either by the (Cherokee County DSS) director or business officer,\u201d Hughes testified. \u201c\u2018We are out of this pot of money. You need to switch this code.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Palmer was suspended as director in early 2018 and resigned from her position six months after the CVAs were discovered, but she accepted being rehired as the DSS business officer the same day. She continues to work for Cherokee County DSS in that role.<\/p>\n<p>A previous CPP investigationshowed that Cherokee County DSS overbilled the federal government by nearly $250,000 over four years.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Hogan\u2019s testimony began Tuesday and will continue Wednesday morning when court reconvenes. Lawyers for both sides said they may complete their cases by end of day Wednesday or the start of Thursday. An eight-member jury will decide the outcome of the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Palmer, Lindsay and Hughes are under state indictment for their roles in using the CVAs. Dates for their trials have not yet been set. <!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>Trial testimony focuses on whether father understood document DSS told him to sign<\/p>\n<p>Judge says former Cherokee County DSS Director Cindy Palmer has partial &#8216;qualified immunity&#8217; from lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>By Kate Martin\u00a0\u00a0May 13, 2021<\/p>\n<p>ASHEVILLE \u2014 As the federal civil trial over the Cherokee County Department of Social Services\u2019 removal of Brian Hogan\u2019s daughter from her family continued Wednesday, the plaintiff\u2019s attorneys finished presenting its case, and the defense began calling witnesses, including a social worker who followed the case.<\/p>\n<p>Former Cherokee County DSS social worker Laurel Smith testified that she went over a document called a Custody and Visitation Agreement, or CVA, with Hogan to explain what it meant. However, Hogan, who can\u2019t read, said she did not explain anything to him.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday marked a second day of testimony from Hogan, whose daughter was removed from his custody after social workers in Cherokee County used a CVA that two state judges later invalidated. Hogan is suing Cherokee County, former DSS Director Cindy Palmer and former DSS attorney Scott Lindsay.<\/p>\n<p>Qualified immunity for Palmer<\/p>\n<p>Palmer cannot be sued personally for negligence in her role during a time that her social workers executed dozens of the agreements that illegally removed children from their parents, Chief Judge Martin Reidinger ruled in North Carolina\u2019s Western District Court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The judge ruled that because Palmer\u2019s actions were in the course of her job as a DSS official, she has \u201cqualified immunity.\u201d The concept protects government workers from personal lawsuits while on duty. The other defendant being sued personally, Lindsay, will not receive qualified immunity, Reidinger said.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling does not protect Palmer from potential personal liability on three other areas covered by the lawsuit, gross negligence, constitutional violations and obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n<p>Cindy Palmer\u2019s husband,\u00a0Derrick Palmer, who is also the elected Cherokee County sheriff, has sat in the back of the courtroom each day of the trial. He said he was relieved that his wife has qualified immunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is why I won\u2019t run for sheriff again,\u201d said the sheriff, who is being sued by at least one person for over the questionable death of an inmate under his care. \u201cAfter this, I\u2019m very concerned about a lawsuit. The outcome of this trial is going to be detrimental to anyone in leadership positions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hogan\u2019s testimony<\/p>\n<p>After Hogan\u2019s wife, Amanda Edmondson, had a heart attack and nearly died in April 2016, he went to Asheville to be with her at the hospital, he testified Tuesday. He left his then-9-year-old daughter in the custody of neighbors, whose child was also her best friend, the girl testified Tuesday. Carolina Public Press is not naming her because she is still a minor.<\/p>\n<p>DSS workers called Hogan and told him his daughter had come to school in dirty clothes and smelling of cat urine, but he said he didn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know my daughter better than that,\u201d Hogan testified Wednesday. \u201cShe took a shower every day. I know for a fact they had running water and hot water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said DSS workers called him three times, saying he had to do something. Eventually, Hogan decided to call his father, Warren Hogan. Brian Hogan did not want to place his daughter with his father, but the younger Hogan testified that he felt he had no other choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said, \u2018What is it?\u2019 I said, \u2018Amanda is in the hospital,\u2019\u201d Hogan testified. He said his father knew and called her a \u201cdruggie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked him to keep my daughter,\u201d Hogan testified. \u201cHe told me I was a worthless father, and I shouldn\u2019t have had kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In May 2016, Hogan signed a document placing the girl in kinship care, a temporary placement with a relative, and she went with her grandfather.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I didn\u2019t have no choice\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t have no choice,\u201d Brian Hogan testified Wednesday. \u201cThey kept telling me if I didn\u2019t, they would give her to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During cross-examination, Sean Perrin, the attorney for Cherokee County, asked Hogan whether he signed the kinship care form voluntarily.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor my father?\u201d Hogan asked, to which Perrin said yes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I did,\u201d Hogan testified. \u201cI didn\u2019t have no choice. They kept telling me if I didn\u2019t, they would give her to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perrin tried to ask another question, and Hogan sobbed. \u201cCan I have just a minute?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Hogan took a few deep breaths and composed himself, Perrin\u2019s questions continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou signed a safety assessment the same day as the kinship (agreement),\u201d Perrin said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know what those papers was,\u201d Hogan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were never threatened,\u201d Perrin said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were going to give her to the state,\u201d Hogan replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know that can\u2019t happen,\u201d Perrin said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can happen,\u201d Hogan testified.<\/p>\n<p>By July 1, 2016, Hogan returned to Cherokee County but had already lost his house and everything in it, he testified. He next lived in an apartment that he rented, but it wasn\u2019t yet a good home for his daughter. Hogan said he tried to find a job and tried to get enough money to pay utility bills and get furniture.<\/p>\n<p>Did Hogan know what he was signing?<\/p>\n<p>Former social worker Smith testified for the defense Wednesday that she followed the Hogan case that eventually resulted in him signing a CVA. She objected to his daughter being alone with her mother because of a court order granting custody to Hogan. Smith said she believed the order required drug screening of the mother as a condition of unsupervised visits \u2014 an incorrect belief, later testimony showed.<\/p>\n<p>Perrin asked Smith why reunification was not possible for Hogan and his daughter. Smith said Hogan was unwilling to do what DSS asked of him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe did not want to stop seeing Amanda or worry about Amanda not being able to test negative for drugs,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe thought he could go and see her (his daughter) and still live with Amanda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the early fall of 2016, Smith contacted Hogan several times to convince him to sign the CVA, she said. She testified that he was interested when she talked to him about a CVA and that she explained the document to him on more than one occasion. (Editor\u2019s Note: Remember that these CVA\u2019s were later ruled to be illegal and unenforceable by two state judges.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI read it with him, I explained everything on it,\u201d Smith testified when Perrin asked her about her process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Brian have any questions?\u201d Perrin asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot that I recall,\u201d Smith testified.<\/p>\n<p>However, during his testimony earlier, Hogan said he resisted. In previous DSS interactions, Hogan signed paperwork but didn\u2019t know what the documents said \u2014 he is illiterate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid they read them to you?\u201d plaintiff\u2019s attorney Ronald Moore\u00a0asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, they said I had to sign them,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cThey said it was in the best interest of (my daughter). They told me if you don\u2019t sign it, we are going to give her to the state and you\u2019re not going to get her back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does \u2018give her to the state\u2019 mean?\u201d Moore asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were going to get her to somebody else, and I would never be able to see her again,\u201d Hogan said. He then reached for a tissue and covered his face on the witness stand as he tried to compose himself.<\/p>\n<p>In fall 2016, Hogan eventually relented and agreed to come in to sign the CVA. He testified that he got a ride to the DSS office from his father. When they arrived, the pair went upstairs, and Brian Hogan said DSS workers told him to sign the CVA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey never explained it to me,\u201d Hogan testified. \u201cNever read it to me. I thought it was going to be temporary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The document says Warren Hogan had custody of the girl until she turned 18 years old. Hogan said he never would have signed if he knew that was what it said.<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiff attorney Melissa Jackson cross-examined Smith, the social worker, asking whether she read the CVA to Hogan before he signed it.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said she did. Then she said, \u201cI can\u2019t recall. I\u2019m trying to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jackson asked Smith to read testimony she gave in 2018 to refresh her memory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you 100% sure that you read that CVA to Brian Hogan?\u201d Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe read over the CVAs if they say they don\u2019t understand it,\u201d Smith said. She later said she\u00a0was unaware Hogan had a learning disability.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson asked whether a criminal history was ever run on Warren Hogan, a typical step social workers take before placing a child in a home that is not registered for foster care. Smith said, \u201cI was never told that was a concern. No.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Mr. Hogan signed the CVA, did you tell him he had a right to an attorney?\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not know I was supposed to,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout this process, did you offer services?\u201d Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe couldn\u2019t,\u201d Smith testified. \u201cThe cases were always closed. No services were ever provided to a child after a case was closed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you feel you were properly trained?\u201d Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, no,\u201d Smith said. When asked, she added that both Palmer and Lindsay were present at staff meetings during which CVAs were discussed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you understand the CVA?\u201d Jackson asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand what we were told,\u201d Smith testified.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson then directed Smith to read District Court Judge Tessa Sellers\u2019 order from early 2016, prior to the CVA, granting custody of Hogan\u2019s daughter to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmanda Edmondson (the girl\u2019s mother) must provide satisfactory proof that she is not on substances; it also says the visitations have to be supervised,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNowhere does it say she has to provide a drug screen,\u201d Jackson said, adding that what Smith did was in direct violation of a judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know it was in direct violation of anything,\u201d Smith testified.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorneys for Cherokee County, former director Palmer and former DSS attorney Lindsay have asserted throughout the trial that Hogan and other parents voluntarily signed the forms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was in the best interest of (the girl) right then?\u201d Moore asked Hogan. \u201cWhat choices did you have? What was the other option?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGive her up to the state,\u201d Hogan said as he tried to hold back sobs. \u201cI wanted my baby back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Hogan said he was overjoyed to be reunited with his daughter, in the months that followed he said he feels guilty for what happened. Hogan also spoke with a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Matthew Gaskins.<\/p>\n<p>Gaskins said he evaluated records from when Hogan was in school, including two IQ tests. These assessments measure the ability of someone to learn or figure things out, not what they have memorized or already know, Gaskins said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan\u2019s IQ test showed a score of 83 \u2014 a level Gaskins said is considered below-average intelligence.\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cHe blamed himself,\u201d Gaskins said. \u201cIf he was smarter, he would\u2019ve been able to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, Gaskins testified, \u201cHe did not fully understand the document he was asked to sign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Taking the Fifth in a civil trial<\/p>\n<p>Rather than call Palmer and Lindsay to the stand, the court (the Judge) elected to allow lawyers to read questions from sections of earlier court testimony and depositions into the record while June Ray, a former Haywood County clerk of court who served as witness coordinator for the defense, read the responses.<\/p>\n<p>During depositions recorded last year, both Linsday and Palmer repeatedly refused to answer questions, exercising their Fifth Amendment right to avoid incriminating themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Reidinger explained to the jury that when people who elect to exercise their Fifth Amendment right in a criminal trial, it cannot be held against them, but that is not so for civil trials like this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The jurors can, if they choose to, draw a negative conclusion against those who plead the Fifth, Reidinger said.<\/p>\n<p>Witness describes change in girl<\/p>\n<p>When Hogan\u2019s daughter was finally returned to him, her manner and dress changed, said Amelia Brickey, her Girls in Action leader at Peachtree Memorial Baptist Church, who testified for the defense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was a sweet child,\u201d Brickey testified. \u201cI always enjoyed her. And when the girl moved in with Warren Hogan, she changed for the better. \u201cShe really dressed up. She started participating more. You\u2019d see a joy. It\u2019s like a light went on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the girl moved back in with her parents, she stopped wearing the pretty dresses, Brickey said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe came in with all colors of different hair, and her dress changed,\u201d Brickey said. \u201cIt\u2019s like the light went out of her eyes. The hope, the light that was there when she was with Warren, it just went out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead of pretty dresses, the girl wore shorts or sweatpants instead.<\/p>\n<p>Moore, one of Hogan\u2019s attorneys, told Brickey that Warren Hogan made the girl wear dresses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll I know is she was beautiful and appeared happy,\u201d Brickey said.<\/p>\n<p>The defense is expected to complete presentation of its case Thursday morning, after which the two sides will present closing arguments and the case will go to the eight-member jury.<\/p>\n<p>Clarification: Former Cherokee County Department of Social Services Director Cindy Palmer has qualified immunity from personal liability related to allegations of negligence in the performance of her work, but not from other allegations in the lawsuit. Earlier versions of the article did not specify the limitations of this qualified immunity accurately. <!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>Verdict: Federal jury awards millions to daughter, father separated by Cherokee County DSS<\/p>\n<p>Jurors respond as closing arguments ask them to stand up for liberty of families against government elites who violate their rights.<\/p>\n<p>By Kate Martin  May 13, 2021<\/p>\n<p>ASHEVILLE \u2014 After less than four hours of deliberation, jurors issued a unanimous verdict on 18 claims agatins Cherokee County, its former Department of Social Services (DSS) Director Cindy Palmer and former DSS Attorney Scott Lindsay in a federal civil trial that could send shockwaves around the state.<\/p>\n<p>The jury issued a combined monetary award of $4.6 million \u2014 $1.5 million for\u00a0Brian Hogan, and another $3.1 million for his daughter.<\/p>\n<p>At issue were illegal documents Cherokee County DSS used to separate Hogan from his then 10-year-old daughter. Hogan signed the document, called a Custody and Visitation Agreement, thinking that if he did not, the state would take his daughter away and he would never see her again.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan, who is illiterate, testified Wednesday that he did not understand what he was signing, nobody explained it to him, and he would not have signed if he had understood that he was giving up custody of his daughter until she turned 18 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Time and time again in 2016, DSS workers contacted him and tried to get him to sign the document, he testified. While the CVA is formatted like a custody agreement, it has no legal weight, state judges have previously ruled.<\/p>\n<p>Jury charge sheet<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of parents\u00a0and children were separated using CVAs in recent years in Cherokee County. Many of those cases are also pending in federal court. The county used CVAs to separate families as far back as 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The charge sheet sent to the eight-member jury asked whether the county had an official policy, practice or custom that caused violations of the rights of Hogan and his daughter, and whether the county failed to adequately train its employees regarding the rights of parents and children.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It also asked whether Palmer and Lindsay violated Hogan and his daughter\u2019s due-process rights, whether Palmer and Lindsay \u201cacted in a grossly negligent manner\u201d causing injury to Hogan and his daughter, and whether Palmer and Lindsay obstructed justice.<\/p>\n<p>On only one claim, whether Palmer obstructed justice with respect to Brian Hogan, the jury voted no.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys for Hogan argued the county failed to train its employees properly, and that Lindsay had obstructed justice by creating a document that illegally circumvented the court process, which violated constitutional rights to due process by giving Hogan and his daughter no opportunity for legal representation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case came about because of a tragedy, a tragedy of mismanagement, incompetence, and a \u2014 well, just honestly a desire to do things on the cheap,\u201d said plaintiff attorney Brandon Christian after the verdict. \u201dAnd what I hope the legacy of this case is that people\u2019s constitutional rights are worth more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Closing arguments<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Constitution was front and center during closing arguments. Christian said Hogan worked hard over long hours at hard low-paying jobs for most of his life, at times more than one, to provide for his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe question is, was Brian Hogan and (his daughter\u2019s) constitutional rights under the Constitution \u2014 that protects each and every one of us \u2014 were they violated?\u201d Christian said as some members from the jury nodded subtly.<\/p>\n<p>He said the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees parents a \u201cfundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, management and companionship\u201d of their children, and that right cannot be infringed without due process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrian Hogan had a right to be (his daughter\u2019s) father,\u201d Christian said. \u201cBrian Hogan had a right to be a parent to her. Both parents and children have a fundamental liberty interest in remaining a family without the interference of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He then jabbed his index finger toward the defense lawyers sitting in a row in front of Lindsay and Palmer.<br \/>\n\u201cThat\u2019s the state, over there \u2014 that\u2019s the government,\u201d Christian said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government that should be the government of \u2018by the people, for the people.\u2019 Instead they became the government of the elite. The government of \u2018I know better.\u2019 \u201d<br \/>\nSocial workers testified throughout the week that they used CVAs on advice from Lindsay, who initially distributed copies to DSS workers. At times there would be staff meetings to discuss cases, where Lindsay and at times Palmer were present as CVAs were discussed.<\/p>\n<p>The social workers testified they used CVAs on \u201cstuck cases,\u201d including instances when social workers could not convince a judge to issue an order to separate children from parents in circumstances where the social workers thought the child was unsafe.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys for the county, Lindsay and Palmer assured the jury throughout the trial that social workers had the best interests of the children in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Lindsay\u2019s attorney Patrick Flanagan said Lindsay had obtained a copy of a CVA from a continuing education class lawyers take to maintain their credentials sometime before 2006.<\/p>\n<p>Flanagan said Hogan signed the CVA voluntarily, a fact Hogan stridently denied Wednesday. Flanagan also tried to counter the plaintiff\u2019s narrative that the county was deliberately indifferent to the plight of parents whose rights were being violated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that\u2019s not true,\u201d Flanagan said during his closing argument, adding that social workers testified that they had the best interest of children in mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShould we have used the CVAs?\u201d the county\u2019s defense attorney Sean Perrin asked. \u201cNo. They were ineffective legal documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perrin argued the CVAs were not in widespread use, as only 30 have so far been found out of the hundreds of DSS cases Cherokee County has every year. He added that DSS workers were trained by the state Department of Health and Human Services and disregarded some of that training when they elected to use CVAs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe solved the problem in a legally defective way,\u201d Perrin said in his closing remarks. \u201cThere was a big problem. We tried our best and did it wrong, but we tried our best to help (Hogan\u2019s daughter).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hogan attorney Melissa Jackson\u00a0stood before the jury, a scowl on her face. It was Jackson who Hogan first told about the CVA when approached her in the grocery store more than three years ago and asked her to help return his daughter to his custody. She represented him for free in a 2017 hearing that exposed Cherokee County\u2019s scheme and reunited Hogan\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fun thing about the Constitution is it doesn\u2019t just apply to you or me or all these fancy people in suits,\u201d she said as she swept an arm toward the defense table. \u201cIt applies to everyone. It applies to the people suffering from addiction. Their arguments are almost insulting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said the arguments from the defense were \u201cflashing lights\u201d trying to distract the jury from the real issue at hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCherokee County was not doing what was in the best\u00a0interest of the children,\u201d Jackson said, now shouting in the courtroom. \u201cThey were doing what was in the best interest for them. An easy, cheap, quicker way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey aren\u2019t dealing with people who are doing wonderful,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThey are not dealing with people who have money and cars. These people are at the worst point in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jackson, quoting one of the defense attorneys, said they had to use CVAs because there were no other options.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were plenty of other options, they just chose not to use them,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n<p>She paused and then turned to the jury. The entire week nobody had addressed the elephant in the room, that at the end of this trial the jury would have to consider a dollar amount if the county, Lindsay or Palmer were found liable.<\/p>\n<p>But Jackson had done some math. She said if the defense\u2019s expert witness\u2019 time was worth $300 per hour, so was Hogan\u2019s pain and suffering. So was his daughter\u2019s pain and suffering. So should the defense pay for their wrongs. She suggested an award of nearly $3.4 million.<\/p>\n<p>Jury decides<\/p>\n<p>The jury asked only a few questions during deliberations. They wanted to see the job description for a DSS director. They also inquired about whether the lawyers or expert witnesses would receive part of any verdict.<\/p>\n<p>They asked how much would be given each to Hogan and his daughter, and whether they could reserve money for the girl\u2019s college education.<\/p>\n<p>Counsel for both sides looked at each other. As the jury remained out of the courtroom, Christian told the court that typically funds awarded to a minor are put in trust until she comes of age.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Judge\u00a0Martin Reidinger\u00a0called the jury in, and told them they had to follow his instructions, if they were to award an amount, it should be sufficient to compensate each of the plaintiffs for the damages that had been caused. The jury returned to deliberate some more, and a half hour later they were ready to deliver their justice.<\/p>\n<p>The jury filed into the courtroom for the last time, wearing the clothes of working people \u2014 cargo shorts, jeans, T-shirts, flowery flowing dresses \u2014 a stark contrast to the pressed suits of the lawyers. The courtroom fell silent with anticipation.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the jury sat stone-faced as Reidinger read the verdict and the award in the civil trial.<\/p>\n<p>Reaction to verdict<\/p>\n<p>A sigh came from Palmer\u2019s husband, Sheriff\u00a0Derrick Palmer. He and his wife declined to speak after the verdict, as did Lindsay and the rest of the attorneys for the defense.<\/p>\n<p>As lawyers packed up, Hogan stood off to the side by himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what to say, I\u2019m speechless,\u201d Hogan said in a hoarse voice. After he took a moment to collect his thoughts, he added, \u201cI hope no other family goes through what my family went through, me and my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Outside the courthouse on Otis Street, Hogan joined his legal team for a celebratory photo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s any positive to come out of this, it\u2019s that maybe we will see\u2026 systemic reform that says, when social services are taking action involving people\u2019s lives, that we actually support that mission and do the job as it\u2019s meant to be and consistent with the U.S. Constitution,\u201d Christian said.<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>KATE MARTIN<br \/>\nKate Martin is lead investigative reporter for Carolina Public Press. Email her at kmartin@carolinapublicpress.org.<\/p>\n<p>Support investigative journalism in North Carolina<br \/>\nWith the support of readers like you, we provide thoughtfully researched articles for a more informed and connected community. This is your chance to support credible, community-based, public-service journalism. Please join us!<\/p>\n<p>Go to https:\/\/carolinapublicpress.org\/ for information on providing funding to support their investigative journalism. Such as this very informative series of articles.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nEditor\u2019s Note IV:<br \/>\nDefense Attorney Sean Perrin worked for the Cleveland County Department of Social Services in their losing battle in Rev. Dante Murphy\u2019s first Federal lawsuit against CCDSS.<br \/>\nDefense Attorney Patrick Flanagan is presently representing the City of Shelby in a Federal Lawsuit for job-place discrimination brought by Shelby Gas Department employee Nivilla Campbell.<\/p>\n<p>You have to wonder why the Commissioners, the School Board, the City of Shelby and the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees don\u2019t just abide by the laws Of North Carolina and the US Constitution in order to avoid Federal and State lawsuits. That is what you and I have to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: This case will be heard \u201caround the world\u201d by those thousands upon thousands who have been screwed over royally by the Departments of Social Services. But, don\u2019t believe me. Read these series of news articles developed by the Carolina 10 Public Press for yourselves!!! Editor\u2019s Note II: Carolina Public Press is an independent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cgg-investigations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}