What Happened
A social worker was driving with an 11-year-old child in the passenger seat of her car after picking the child up from a court-ordered home visit. The child pulls a pistol that he brought from the home visit to his mother out of his jacket pocket.
Before the young social worker had time to speak or to react in any way, the boy put the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. The social worker’s whole body jumped and she screamed when she heard the loud POP. The boy immediately slumped over toward her, held in the seat by the seatbelt. With her heart pounding, and in utter disbelief, she navigated her way through traffic to get to the side of the road to call 9-1-1. With her hands shaking uncontrollably, she checked for a pulse but felt nothing. She called her supervisor as she waited for the police to arrive.
The Cliam That Followed
The biological mother, who had lost custody, and from whose home the pistol had been taken, attempted to press criminal charges against the social worker and filed a civil lawsuit for negligent supervision against the social worker and the foster family agency.
By hiring a defense lawyer who was a child welfare defense expert and was previously a child welfare social worker, the insurance company was able to successfully defend the foster family agency and social worker so that the civil lawsuit and criminal charges were summarily dismissed.