From the Ninth Circuit today, Humphries v. LA Co., No. 05-56467:

Appellants Craig and Wendy Humphries ..., [a]ccused of abuse by a rebellious child, ... were arrested, and had their other children taken away from them....

Notwithstanding the findings of two California courts that the Humphries were “factully innocent” and the charges “not true,” the Humphries were identified as “substantiated” child abusers and placed on California’s Child Abuse Central Index (“the CACI”), a database of known or suspected child abusers. As the Humphries quickly learned, California offers no procedure to remove their listing on the database as suspected child abusers, and thus no opportunity to clear their names.

This case presents the question of whether California’s maintenance of the CACI violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because identified individuals are not given a fair opportunity to challenge the allegations against them. We hold that it does.

The opinion is by Judge Bybee with Judge Milan Smith and District Judge Richard Mills concurring.