Adam Brook, Individually and as Executor of the Estate of Judith Brook v. Joseph Ruotolo, et al.

The questions presented are:

1. Whether a court-appointed guardian for an adult, acting under color of state law, is immune from liability under 42 USC §1983 for forcing his ward into a nursing-home against her will without authority to do so.

2. Whether a court-appointed attorney for an “alleged incapacitated person”, employed by the State and acting under color of state law, is immune from liability under 42 USC §1983 for her intentional acts intended to have her client deemed incapacitated against her client’s wishes, and to have the power-ofattorney held by her client’s son annulled, thereby allowing the court to strip her client of all her civil and constitutional rights and property against her client’s wishes.

3. Whether a court-appointed guardian, acting under color of state law, is immune from liability under 42 USC §1983 for orchestrating a scheme to procure a guardianship by fraud. “America’s guardianship system was designed as a last resort to be used only in the rare and drastic event that someone is totally incapacitated by mental or physical disability. In those cases, conscientious guardians can provide vital support, often in complex and distressing circumstances. … [T]he system has grown into a vast, lucrative, and poorly regulated industry that has subsumed more than a million people, many of whom insist they are capable of making their own decisions, and placed them at risk of abuse, theft, and even death.” Blake, H. et al., 2022.