The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services is going to court in an effort to block the return of a social worker who supervised the case of a Palmdale boy who was beaten to death.

Gregory Merritt successfully appealed his firing to L.A. County’s civil service commission.

County departments usually abide by the commission’s findings, but Philip Browning, the county’s child welfare chief, said Tuesday that he is taking the matter to court after determining that Merritt had “egregiously” missed multiple opportunities to save 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez.

A department spokesman said Merritt would not be returning to work as a result of the county’s decision to file a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

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