Another Foster Care Lawsuit Against Florida DCF-Woodring Case UPDATED

The 22-year-old woman was placed at age 13 in the Woodring home in 2000 with her two silbings.The “couple separated in 2003 and he moved into a small, adjacent guest house with the girl, then 16.”

““While living with the Woodrings, (she) had developed a substance-abuse problem,” says the lawsuit, amended last year to add DCF. “Jeff Woodring provided and consumed alcohol and marijuana with (her).”

The lawsuit says she was last sexually abused in January 2006, when Collier sheriff’s deputies were alerted by DCF and the home was shut down. Woodring was arrested four months later and faces life in prison if convicted. [He was arrested in May 2006 and is free on $75,000 bond and is charged with sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation. He faces up to 30 years in a state prison on the top charge, a first-degree felony, and 15 years on the latter, a second-degree felony according to  Naples News June 2008 article.]

The lawsuit alleges the girl suffered physical trauma, emotional anguish, shame, humiliation, insecurity, self-revulsion and damage to her self-esteem. She also suffered medical problems, including suicide attempts, that prompted medical bills.

The lawsuit seeks damages for battery, negligence and vicarious liability, contending DCF and its subcontractors are liable as employers of a foster parent because they placed the girl in a position to be molested by licensing and relicensing an unfit foster parent who twice was rejected due to disqualifying offenses.

The lawsuit contends the agencies had a duty to monitor, supervise and ensure her safety and that they knew or should have known of the abuse.

At a May hearing before Collier Circuit Judge Cynthia Pivacek, Filson argued Woodring never should have been licensed.

“That ought to be enough,” Filson told the judge, citing Woodring’s alcohol abuse and domestic violence history.

But attorney Joel Roth of Miami, who represents Ruth Cooper Center, contended it shouldn’t be liable because Woodring was required to adhere to duties under their contract.

“The minute you are performing a sexual assault, you are no longer acting within the course of your employment,” Roth argued, citing a prior court ruling in which an insurer refused to cover a deputy who raped a woman he’d promised not to arrest if she agreed to have sex.

“Jeff Woodring is a foster parent,” Roth said. “He is not authorized under any circumstances to assault, molest or sexually abuse a foster child. He is not acting in furtherance of his employer’s intentions. There can be no liability.”

Filson, however, cited a different court ruling in which a trooper who stopped a girl walking home from elementary school told her she was a theft suspect, drove her to a remote area and molested her.
Filson contended that, like that trooper, Woodring was only able to sexually assault his foster daughter because he was employed as a foster father and raped her under the scope of his duties.

Under a motion to dismiss, a judge must take a plaintiff’s allegations as factually true, allowing a lawsuit to move to the next stage if there are no other defects. Pivacek denied Roth’s motions to dismiss the case.

The defendants can seek dismissal later by filing a motion for summary judgment, which means a judge rules there are no factual issues to be tried and that the lawsuit can be decided on certain facts without a trial.”

Judge allows suit against DCF, others to proceed for Naples girl abused in foster care
[Naples News 6/18/11 by Aisling Swift]

For  two more articles from 2008 and 2009 see Pound Pup Legacy’s Jeff Allen Woodring Files.

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update/August 25, 2013

A search of Collier County Florida court case files reveals that this case was continued for over two years since we reported on it. On August 12, 2013, charges were amended to 1 count of child abuse.Jeff Woodring pled guilty and received a sentence of 2 years probation with the opportunity to cut that in half “upon completion of conditions.” He can have no contact with victim. SEVEN years for this case to end in PROBATION!