SRS seeks dismissal of lawsuit filed by grandparents

The state's child-welfare agency is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing a social worker of failing to protect a 23-month-old Coffeyville girl who was beaten to death.

The lawsuit hasn't shown that the social worker's actions "were so egregious or outrageous as to be considered conscience-shocking," say papers filed Wednesday by an attorney for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

In January, the maternal grandparents of Brooklyn Coons — Larry and Mary Crosetto — filed a lawsuit accusing the social worker of gross negligence, saying she didn't protect their granddaughter from being beaten to death by her father's meth-addicted girlfriend.

The lawsuit accuses SRS social worker Linda Gillen of not taking measures to remove Brooklyn and her brother from a dangerous household after the maternal grandparents repeatedly brought forward concerns about injuries to Brooklyn. Gillen failed to act because of a "pre-existing grudge" involving actions the Crosettos took years earlier in their adoption of Brooklyn's mother, Angela Crosetto Coons, the lawsuit says.

But SRS attorney Danny Baumgartner argued in the court papers filed Wednesday that Gillen "merely investigated a report of abuse and neglect," that Brooklyn was not in state custody and that Gillen "had no duty to intervene." Baumgartner said Gillen is "entitled to qualified immunity."

The Kansas Attorney General's Office prosecuted the girlfriend, Melissa Wells Coons. Brooklyn died on Jan. 20, 2008. The girlfriend later married Brooklyn's father. On Dec. 30, 2009, a judge sentenced Melissa Wells Coons to life in prison for the murder of Brooklyn. Brooklyn's father, Randy Coons, has been charged with aggravated child endangerment.

In August 2007, Brooklyn's mother, Angela Coons, 24, died of a sudden illness at a Wichita hospital. At the time Brooklyn was beaten, the girl was living with her father and his girlfriend.

The SRS attorney argued in the response filed Wednesday that Gillen, as the social worker, "had to balance the interests of looking into the report of child abuse (which she did) with the interests of the father in being with his children. It is exactly what the law states should be done and that is what she did."

The lawsuit seeks more than $75,000 in damages.

In an interview in January, Larry Crosetto said that Gillen "was aware there was a situation in that home. She didn't investigate and find out what the situation was.

"What we hope to do is get SRS to act in these situations... and prevent it from happening to another family," Crosetto said.

This story was originally published March 11, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "SRS seeks dismissal of lawsuit filed by grandparents."