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GREG MYERS AND JANE MYERS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PARENTS AND NATURAL GUARDIANS OF ANDY MYERS, AMY MYERS AND BRIAN MYERS, MINORS, APPELLANTS, v. SCOTT COUNTY; R. KATHLEEN MORRIS, SCOTT COUNTY ATTORNEY; SCOTT COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES; PEG SUBBY, ITS DIRECTOR OF HUMAN SERVICES; THOMAS PRICE; PHIPPS-YONAS PRICE, P.A.; DORIS WILKER, SOCIAL WORKER; OTHER EMPLOYEES OF SCOTT COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES WHOSE NAMES AND TITLES ARE UNKNOWN; DOUGLAS TIETZ, SCOTT COUNTY SHERIFF; DEPUTY SHERIFFS NORMAN PINT, PATRICK MORGAN AND MICHAEL BUSCH; CITY COUNCIL OF JORDAN, MINNESOTA; AND ALVIN ERICKSON, JORDAN CHIEF OF POLICE, APPELLEES. DONALD BUCHAN AND CINDY BUCHAN, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PARENTS AND NATURAL GUARDIANS OF COURTNEY B. BUCHAN, MELISSA ELLEN BUCHAN AND WILLIAM DONALD BUCHAN, MINORS, APPELLANTS,

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

These appeals arise out of an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children in Scott County, Minnesota. Most of the facts and legal issues have already been thoroughly set forth and resolved in a previous appeal, Myers v. Morris, 810 F.2d 1437 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 97, 98 L.Ed.2d 58 (1987). As a result of our decision in that appeal, summary judgment was entered in favor of the following groups of defendants: Guardians ad litem, therapists, police officers of the City of Jordan, Minnesota, the Scott County Board of Commissioners, the County Attorney, the County Sheriff, and deputy sheriffs.

In the present appeal, we are asked to review the order of the District Court granting motions for summary judgment by Scott County, the Scott County Department of Human Services, and a group of social workers. In re Scott County Master Docket, 672 F. Supp. 1152 (D.Minn. 1987).

The Hon. Harry H. MacLaughlin, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.

We affirm. The opinion of the District Court exhaustively states the facts and discusses the applicable law. We see no point in embellishing at length on Judge MacLaughlin's able opinion. As the District Court carefully explained, the theory of substantive due process is properly reserved for truly egregious and extraordinary cases, and violations of state law, in and of themselves, are not actionable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We have carefully considered the arguments of appellants, and we are well aware that they have suffered much. Their allegations, however, do not rise to a constitutional level. There may well have been deviations from proper investigative procedure in the delicate area of child sexual abuse. These matters, how ever, are best left to the common law of torts. We note that plaintiffs' pendent state-law claims were dismissed without prejudice by the District Court, and we approve this action.

Accordingly, the judgments are affirmed on the basis of the opinion of the District Court.

In No. 88-5022, the appellants Scott and Marlene Germundson have not filed a brief. The appellee Scott County has moved to dismiss their appeal. This motion is granted, and the appeal in No. 88-5022 is dismissed for want of prosecution.

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MYERS v. SCOTT COUNTY
(Mar 3, 1989)