Smith v. City of Fontana
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
Some citing opinions could not be retrieved, as noted below.
83 later cases cite Smith v. City of Fontana; 83 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been checked, but the text of some citing opinions could not be retrieved, so those remain unread. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Smith v. City of Fontana?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Overruled in part
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The en banc court overruled Smith's rule that standing to seek damages can also provide standing to seek injunctive and declaratory relief arising from the same facts and legal theory.
Hodgers-Durgin v. De La Vina · Ninth Circuit · filed
We have previously held that where claims for damages and equitable relief arise from the same “operative facts and legal theory” a plaintiff with standing to seek damages also has standing to request injunctive and declaratory relief. See Nava v. City of Dublin, 121 F.3d 453, 456 (9th Cir.1997) (citing Gonzales v. City of Peoria, 722 F.2d 468 (9th Cir.1983); Giles v. Ackerman, 746 F.2d 614, 619 (9th Cir.1984) (per curiam); Smith v. City of Fontana, 818 F.2d 1411, 1423 (9th Cir.1987)). ... We believe that Nava's holding that standing to seek damages serves as a basis for standing to seek equitable relief is inconsistent with Lyons, and we therefore overrule Nava and our prior decisions on which Nava relied.
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Declined to follow
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The court rejected Smith's recognition of a substantive-due-process companionship interest between a parent and an independent adult child.
Robertson v. Hecksel · Eleventh Circuit · filed
Nonetheless, we recognize subsequent Ninth Circuit decisions have interpreted their caselaw as allowing a parent to bring a companionship claim in the context of an adult child where the deprivation was incidental to the state action. See, e.g., Moreland v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep’t, 159 F.3d 365, 371 (9th Cir. 1998); Curnow v. Ridgecrest Police, 952 F.2d 321, 325 (9th Cir. 1991); Smith v. City of Fontana, 818 F.2d 1411, 1419 (9th Cir. 1987) overruled on other grounds by Hodgers-Durgin v. De La Vina, 199 F.3d 1037 (9th Cir. 1999). ... Like the District of Columbia Circuit, we hold Robertson has not asserted a cognizable due process interest. ... Therefore, her claim finds no support in Supreme Court precedent, and we decline to further expand the substantive protections of the Due Process Clause.
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The court rejected Smith's recognition of a substantive-due-process relationship right between an adult child and parent.
Struck v. Cook County Public Guardian · Appellate Court of Illinois, First District · filed
The United States Court of Appeals across the country are split over whether there is a constitutionally protected right to a relationship between a parent and an adult child. ... Smith v. City of Fontana, 818 F.2d 1411, 1418 (9th Cir. 1987) (finding an interest) ... . Consistent with these principles, the majority of courts that have considered this issue, and all of the more recent cases, decline to find a protected interest. ... Accordingly, we decline to find a substantive due process right to a relationship between an adult child and a parent to provide James standing to request visitation with Janie and to challenge the guardian’s visitation decisions.
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The court expressly declined Smith's adult-child companionship rule as untenable after the precedent on which it relied was overruled.
Braillard v. Maricopa County · Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two · filed
With the overruling of Bell, the Ninth Circuit’s holding in Smith is no longer tenable. We therefore decline to follow Smith and, instead, in keeping with the majority position, find Braillard has failed to allege a constitutionally protected right and thus lacks standing to bring a wrongful death action under § 1983.
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The court refused to follow Smith's recognition of a child's due-process claim for collateral loss of parental companionship.
LeFever v. Ferguson · Sixth Circuit · filed
Alex implores this court to follow Smith v. City of Fontana, 818 F.2d 1411, 1418 (9th Cir.1987), overruled on other grounds by Hodgers-Durgin v. de la Vina, 199 F.3d 1037 (9th Cir.1999), which allowed children of a parent killed by the police to pursue, claims for losses of familial companionship and society. Because the defendants violated his personally held right to familial integrity, Alex argues, the district court erred by finding his claim derivative of his mother’s and dismissing it. But Smith is at odds with our precedents.
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The court rejected Smith's no-specific-intent rule and required state action directed at the parent-child relationship.
Partridge v. City of Benton · Eighth Circuit · filed
Here, Partridge and Schweikle did not allege in their complaint, or argue on appeal, that Ellison’s shooting was directed at their relationship with Keagan. This forecloses their claims. ... But see Smith v. City of Fontana, 818 F.2d 1411, 1420 n.12 (9th Cir. 1987) (refusing to adopt requirement that plaintiff allege state official intentionally targeted the familial relationship to state a due process violation under § 1983), overruled on other grounds by Hodgers-Durgin v. de la Vina, 199 F.3d 1037, 1041 n.1 (9th Cir. 1999) (en banc).
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The court reaffirmed its circuit's rejection of Smith's rule permitting a familial-integrity claim for incidental injury to the parent-child relationship.
Chambers v. Sanders · Sixth Circuit · filed
In Foos, we reiterated the language from Claybrook we previously quoted and explained that even when state action that detains or kills an individual is reframed as a deprivation of his or her relation’s right to familial association, no cause of action exists under § 1983. Id. at 592-93. Foos further rejected the Ninth Circuit’s approach in Smith of allowing such claims. Even more recently in LeFever, we again rejected a family-integrity claim by children whose parents were killed by state police officers. Id. at 447-48. In that opinion, the panel majority—like that in Foos—expressly declined to follow the Ninth Circuit’s approach of allowing claims by children who are deprived of their familial relationships because their parent is wrongfully killed by a state actor.
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Limited
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The court declined to extend Smith's protected familial-companionship interest to siblings, a relationship Smith left open.
Ward v. City of San Jose · Ninth Circuit · filed
The interests of other family members were not before us in Smith, and we expressly declined to consider them. Id. at 1419 n. 11. ... We adopt the earlier and better rule of Bell. Neither the legislative history nor Supreme Court precedent supports an interest for siblings consonant with that recognized for parents and children. Moreover, Bell is consistent with our decision in Smith while Trujillo is not. ... Therefore, in reliance on Smith and Bell, we affirm the district court's order dismissing the Ward siblings.
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Questioned
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The court questioned whether Smith's adult-child companionship holding is consistent with Third Circuit law.
Harper v. County of Delaware · Third Circuit · filed
Harper relies on one case recognizing the right of adult children to companionship with a parent. See Smith v. City of Fontana, 818 F.2d 1411, 1418 (9th Cir. 1987), overruled in part on other grounds by Hodgers-Durgin v. De La Vina, 199 F.3d 1037, 1040 n.1 (9th Cir. 1999) (en banc). In that case, the Ninth Circuit held that an adult child could state a claim for deprivation of that right when police officers used lethal force against a parent. See id. at 1418-19. We question whether that decision is consistent with the law of this Circuit under McCurdy, which similarly involved a claim of lethal force.
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