On Oct. 16, 2017, plaintiff Barbara Hickman contacted the Department of Children and Family Services, and later the police, after her adopted daughter, Jasmine Hickman, said concerning things and then disappeared with her two daughters, plaintiffs’ decedents Jaliyah Hickman, 7, and Kamile Brewster, 1 month old. Barbara Hickman and her husband, plaintiff Darren Hickman, previously adopted their niece, Jasmine Hickman, when she became orphaned before the age of 10. Since Jasmine Hickman was dealing with mental health issues, Darren and Barbara Hickman also helped raise Jaliyah and Kamile. Barbara Hickman eventually became concerned by comments that Jasmine Hickman made on Oct. 16, 2017, so Barbara Hickman contacted the Department of Children and Family Services. She then contacted the police when she learned that Jasmine Hickman had taken Jaliyah out of school and then disappeared with Jaliyah and Kamile. Barbara Hickman claimed that since she and her husband had never been formally appointed as guardians of Jaliyah and Kamile, they were told that Jasmine Hickman, as the children’s biological mother, had the legal right to take Jaliyah and Kamile. Three days later, on Oct. 19, 2017, Barbara and Darren Hickman were notified by the police that they had located Jasmine Hickman, Jaliyah and Kamile, but that Jasmine Hickman had murdered her two daughters in South Los Angeles. Barbara and Darren Hickman, acting as individuals and successors in interest to the estates of Jaliyah and Kamile, sued Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, and the Los Angeles County Office of Child Protection. Jasmine Hickman was a nominal defendant, but her name was not mentioned in the case caption. Kamile’s surviving father, Christopher Brewster, was later identified as a plaintiff and joined the Hickmans in pursuing their claims. (The Hickmans were acting as individuals and successors in interest to the estate of Jaliyah, and Brewster was acting as an individual and a successor in interest to the estate of Kamile.) The family alleged that the Department of Children and Family Services failed to investigate multiple calls to the child protection hotline, which led to the wrongful death of Jaliyah and Kamile., Barbara Hickman, Darren Hickman and Brewster sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of Jaliyah and Kamile, whom they helped raise.