Mother of slain foster child sues DHS

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BANGOR – The mother of a 5-year-old girl who was killed by suffocation while in foster care earlier this year has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Human Services, its commissioner, several DHS caseworkers, department heads and the child’s foster mother, claiming all acted in bad faith in connection to her daughter’s case.

Christy Marr seeks punitive and compensatory damages and payment of attorney’s fees over the death of her daughter, Logan Marr, on Jan. 31.

She filed the lawsuit as her daughter’s representative.

A specific money amount is not mentioned in the 27-count civil lawsuit, though attorney C. Clifton Fuller of Belfast, who is representing Marr, said $5 million most likely would settle the matter.

One of the defendants, foster mother Sally Schofield, is charged with the child’s death after she allegedly bound Logan Marr in a high chair, covered her face with duct tape and left her alone among trash cans in the cellar of her Chelsea home. Schofield pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges in September.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Bangor, claims multiple instances of deprivation of civil rights, conspiracy, professional malpractice, gross negligence and breach of contract among other alleged wrongs. It also names the Waterville-based Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers for failing to give an objective home study.

Fuller said efforts failed last spring to negotiate with the DHS and the state Legislature on the matter. At that time a $5 million settlement figure was offered. But DHS and the Legislature repeatedly refused to deal with the Logan Marr tragedy, according to Fuller.

“The state has refused to talk to us. Everybody is ignoring us and forced us to file a lawsuit,” the attorney added.

Fuller said he and his client “put a financial amount on the table back in April. It was $5 million and we would still be willing to talk in that ballpark. We happen to think with the proof of facts [that would be] presented to a Maine jury [the defendants] would be looking [at paying] a hell of a lot more than that.”

Chuck Dow, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, on Thursday could not confirm receipt of the lawsuit though he expected it at any time.

Responding to Fuller’s contentions, Dow said the lawyer “didn’t have a lawsuit before, and he was making demands on the State House steps [last spring] as he was entitled to do but they weren’t in the context of any lawsuit.”

Dow said the Attorney General’s Office “expects he will initiate a lawsuit and we will deal with it.”

The 68-page lawsuit contains many claims of bad-faith conduct on the part of DHS employees and a Lewiston attorney acting as a guardian ad litem for Logan Marr. The conduct “shocks the conscience of not only the plaintiffs but also of society as a whole,” the lawsuit states.

“That little girl suffered terribly,” in the hours before her death, Fuller said. Death by asphyxiation “is probably the worst way to die. She had to have been very frightened.”

Normally, state employees performing their jobs in good faith are immune from being sued.

The lawsuit’s length is designed to overcome the immunity protection, Fuller said. “We think, quite frankly, it will do the job,” he said in a telephone interview.”

“We suggest in this complaint there was bad faith, conspiracies we can prove and actions by bad actors that either are illegal or unethical in certain instances,” Fuller said.

The bad-faith actions began with efforts to remove Logan from her home, according to Fuller.

Born to Christy Marr and John Wagg on Oct. 14, 1995, Logan was removed from her Dover-Foxcroft home by the state on March 8, 2000, when she was 4.

DHS child protective caseworker Allison Peters swore at a hearing that Christy Marr had “moved 17 times in the last year,” that she exposed her children to her mother’s former husband who was a convicted child sex offender and that Christy Marr’s husband – not the child’s father – beat her in front of Logan, the lawsuit states.

“All of these allegations are false,” the lawsuit states. By allegedly lying in court and on affidavits, Peters showed bad-faith conduct, according to the lawsuit.

Peters reportedly visited Logan while she was a foster child in the Schofield home from August 2000 to January 2001. The child reported several assaults during that period, but the reports were disregarded because Peters told a supervisor that, “Logan told stories so who knew what to believe.” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also names Peters’ supervisor and Karen Westburg, director of the Bureau of Child and Family Services. Westburg risked the child’s life by lack of action in the case, the lawsuit states.

The most controversial allegations are aimed at Lawrence J. Irwin of Lewiston, an attorney appointed as guardian ad litem for Logan Marr. The lawsuit accuses Irwin of conspiring with Schofield, described as a friend of his, to keep Logan Marr in Schofield’s home after it was discovered she was in violation of DHS regulations.

Schofield at the time did not operate a licensed foster home and her position as Logan Marr’s caseworker should have prevented the child’s placement in her home, the suit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Westburg planned to remove the child until she got a call from Irwin in which he threatened to bring legal action restraining Westburg from taking Logan from Schofield’s home. Irwin allegedly held a meeting with a judge, then told Westburg that the judge would grant such a restraining order.

“As a result of the contact by Irwin, defendant Westburg publicly admitted that she backed off from her position and allowed Logan to continue in an illegal or improper placement,” the lawsuit states.

Christy Marr claims her parental rights were wrongfully terminated, in effect, by her child’s death. A second daughter, Bailey, remains in DHS custody.

The lawsuit ” is very difficult for Christy Marr. She signed the complaint, then she cried,” attorney Fuller said.