Court says mother can't sue Michigan, child workers in son's death

DOUGLASS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- A federal appeals court says a judge was wrong to allow a civil suit to proceed against state Child Protective Services workers and the state by the mother of a western Michigan boy killed by his father in a murder-suicide. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Tuesday that state workers' conduct wasn't the "direct cause" of injuries that killed 9-year-old Nicholas Braman. The appeals court reversed the decision of a federal district judge who'd refused to dismiss the agency and workers as defendants. Nicholas died in 2007 when Oliver Braman filled a room in his home in Montcalm County's Douglass Township with carbon monoxide. Oliver Braman and his wife also died. Days earlier, Oliver Braman skipped his sentencing for abusing two other sons. Published: Thu, Sep 5, 2013