## Facts

- A fourteen-year-old student, Brian Kelson, brought a .38-caliber revolver to school and confronted a teacher while demanding money.
- The teacher persuaded Brian to go to an empty room where the vice principal met with him; Brian displayed a suicide note and kept the gun in his waistband.
- Brian asked to speak with a favored teacher, but school officials did not permit the request.
- School officials called the police and notified Brian’s parents.
- A police officer encountered Brian and told him he was “in trouble with the law.”
- Minutes later, Brian entered a restroom at school, shot himself, and later died.
- Brian’s parents sued the city, school district, and individual officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and asserted a pendent state-law negligence claim.

## Issues

1. Whether parents have a constitutionally protected liberty interest, under the Due Process Clause, in the companionship and society of their child.
2. Whether an alleged state-caused deprivation of that parental interest is actionable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
3. Whether dismissal was proper where municipal liability allegations may be deficient absent an adequately pleaded policy or custom.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit reversed the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal and remanded.
- The court held that parents possess a constitutionally protected liberty interest in the companionship and society of their children.
- The court held that deprivation of that interest may be actionable under § 1983 if other § 1983 requirements are met.
- The court indicated plaintiffs should be permitted to amend to plead municipal liability consistent with Monell’s policy-or-custom requirement.
- The reversal also reopened consideration of the pendent state-law negligence claim on remand.

## Legal Principles

- The Due Process Clause protects a parent’s liberty interest in the parent–child relationship, including companionship and society, not merely formal custody.
- A parent may pursue damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a state-caused deprivation of that liberty interest without due process, subject to ordinary § 1983 elements (state action and causation).
- Municipal defendants are liable under § 1983 only if the constitutional deprivation was caused by an official policy, custom, or practice; a complaint may require amendment to satisfy that standard.

## Conclusion

The court recognized a parental due process liberty interest in a child’s companionship and society and ruled that an alleged state-caused deprivation of that interest can support a § 1983 claim, reversing dismissal and remanding for further proceedings, including potential amendment to address municipal-liability pleading.


Kelson v. City of Springfield, 767 F.2d 651 (9th Cir. 1985)