Dennis Mundt v. Carmille Gadziala and Joi Johnson

Denver, Colorado civil rights lawyer represented the Plaintiff, who claimed that the defendants violated his constitutional rights.

Dennis Mundt claimed two Douglas County, Colorado Department of Human

Services ("DHS”) caseworkers, Camille Gadziala and Joi Johnson, violated his

Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by knowingly removing his fourteen-yearold

child, D.J.M., from his care based on false and unsupported allegations and then

failing to meet with him afterwards. The district court dismissed the action under

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), ruling that Johnson was entitled to absolute

immunity and Gadziala was entitled to qualified immunity.



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On January 7, DHS petitioned for temporary custody of D.J.M. based on a

supporting affidavit filed by Gadziala ("Gadziala Affidavit”). Mundt challenged the

veracity of the Gadziala Affidavit as unsupported or contradicted by the evidence.

He also alleged the Gadziala Affidavit included information from a Parental

Responsibility Evaluation ("PRE”) that discredited him but omitted information from

the PRE that discredited Hennesy. He quoted excerpts from the PRE indicating

Hennesy "exhibits habitual manipulation of others[,]” "a careless disregard for their

rights,” and "a somewhat undisciplined imagination that takes liberties with objective

reality.” Id. at 16, ¶ 44 (internal quotation marks omitted). He averred the PRE

revealed "major if not fatal issues with Ms. Hennesy's credibility, but . . . Gadziala

failed to take these [credibility] issues . . . into consideration when completing her

investigation.” Aplt. App. at 16, ¶ 47. Mundt alleged that based on the Gadziala

Affidavit, he was ordered to have no contact with D.J.M., whom he lost the ability to

parent.

Affirmed