Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales

After Gonzales (plaintiff) obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband barring him from her home, he took their three children without arranged visitation, and despite Gonzales repeatedly calling the Castle Rock Police Department (CRPD, defendant) to report the violation and request enforcement, officers told her to wait; hours later, the husband was killed in a shootout with police, and the children's bodies were later found in his truck, already murdered. Gonzales sued CRPD, claiming its failure to enforce the restraining order violated her Fourteenth Amendment due process rights by depriving her of a protected property interest; the district court dismissed, the court of appeals reversed finding a cognizable property interest, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.