Gary and Melissa Gates are still, after eight years, trying to right what they perceive as wrong on the part of Child Protective Services and a decision by the Texas Third Court of Appeals will allow a lawsuit filed seven years ago, and dismissed two years ago, to proceed, Gates said in a press release last week.

Gary Gates, a business owner who has unsuccessfully sought political offices at the state level, says the decision by the appeals court is a victory. The court ruled that a lawsuit filed by Gates’ wife, Melissa, was improperly dismissed in 2006. Based on this ruling Gates can proceed with the suit in court.

Since the year 2000 the Gates have been in a battle with the local CPS, which is overseen by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin. Gates feels CPS violating the family’s constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure by taking custody of his 13 children without a warrant on a Friday in February 2000.

The children were taken from the Gates home by CPS after one of their sons arrived at the elementary school with a plastic baggie filled with snack wrappers attached to his shirt. There was a note explaining that the attached baggie was punishment for sneaking snacks at home. The child, Gates said immediately after the incident, had a severe eating disorder and had broken the strict rules that the family had established to deal with his problems.

In addition to the explanation, Gates said the note included contact information should the school have any problems or questions with the punishment.

Instead of contacting the family, a member of the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District apparently made a call to CPS suggesting the child was being verbally abused. In turn, CPS contacted the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department and the two enforcement agencies went to Gates home, just outside of Richmond, and took custody of the couple’s 13 children, most of whom are adopted. The youngsters were questioned by authorities and funneled out to foster homes over the weekend. The following Monday the children were returned to the family after a local State District Judge determined that was the proper course of action.

Gates filed a lawsuit against Lamar CISD for reporting the incident and thus launching the investigation. Eventually LCISD, while not admitting any type of guilt, paid $125,000 to Gary and Melissa Gates. School officials also agreed to make some changes in the district’s policies that would reduce the chances of such a thing happening again.

However since the incident, Melissa Gates has been listed in a central CPS computer system database as a “designated perpetrator” of “child abuse.” In an attempt to get the record expunged, Melissa Gates filed a lawsuit on Aug. 30, 2001, asking that her name be removed from the database system.

Her lawsuit was dismissed by a state district judge in 2006. The court determined that Gates had not undergone the formal complaint process offered by CPS and therefore the case was null and void.

However last week the Texas Third Court of Appeals, ruling concluded that Melissa Gates did not have to exhaust her administrative remedies to sue the TDFPS and the case is now reinstated and can move forward.

Investigations by state authorities did not result in any charges against the couple.

Eleven of the couple’s 13 children were adopted and were said to have special needs. Gates admitted, in previous interviews with the Fort Bend Star, that he used disciplinary methods that might be considered somewhat unorthodox, but had never abused any of the children. Various exercise routines were used as punishment for some infractions. The stapled baggie was used to punish the child because other more traditional measures had not been successful and this form of discipline seemed to be helpful, Gates said at the time.