A mother’s lawsuit against Lebanon County and several county officials will return to state court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held Monday, after it affirmed the dismissal of her federal due process claims and said the state’s statutory language did not give victims a property right to enforce the duty to protect her son.

Plaintiff Sara Coon sued Lebanon County and several county officials following the murder of her son, Maxwell Schollenberger, in 2020. His cause of death was attributed to neglect, and he was found dehydrated, starved and beaten in a locked room in his father’s house.