Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/318304377/Cacioppo-v-Town-of-Vail-Colorado-10th-Cir-2013
Timestamp: 2018-11-15 07:12:59
Document Index: 521046311

Matched Legal Cases: ['art, 10', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 1983']

Cacioppo v. Town of Vail, Colorado, 10th Cir. (2013) | Precedent | Summary Judgment
Filed: 2013-07-08 Precedential Status: Non-Precedential Docket: 12-1028
Cacioppo v. Town of Vail, Colorado, 10th Cir. (201...
Campbell v. Coastal Mart, 10th Cir. (2000)
Bernadine T. Pearson, Cross-Appellee v. Federal Express Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, Cross-Appellant, 991 F.2d 806, 10th Cir. (1993)
United States v. Chavero, 10th Cir. (2015)
Michael Boswell v. Steve Eoon, 3rd Cir. (2011)
MICHAEL CACIOPPO,
TOWN OF VAIL, COLORADO,
No. 12-1028
(D.C. No. 1:09-CV-02311-RPM)
Michael Cacioppo brought this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the
Town of Vail, Colorado (“Vail”) and Darren Anderson, a former police officer for
Vail, after Officer Anderson allegedly violated Mr. Cacioppo’s Fourth
Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment to Vail and
entered final judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b). 1 For
On November 1, 2008, shortly before the 2008 presidential and general
election, Mr. Cacioppo called 911 because he believed two individuals were
destroying election signs on public property. Upon realizing that the individuals
worked for Vail, Mr. Cacioppo quickly called and rescinded his complaint;
however, Officer Anderson had already been dispatched to the scene. When
Officer Anderson arrived he first spoke with the two individuals whom Mr.
Cacioppo had originally believed were improperly taking down the signs.
Officer Anderson then began to speak with Mr. Cacioppo and asked for his
identification. It is unclear exactly how the following events unfolded. However,
it is clear that in pulling out his identification, Mr. Cacioppo also pulled out a
Swiss Army knife. Upon seeing the knife, Officer Anderson drew his weapon and
ordered Mr. Cacioppo to drop the knife. At some point thereafter, Officer
Anderson directed Mr. Cacioppo to get onto the ground and Officer Anderson
proceeded to handcuff him. A police sergeant arrived on the scene shortly
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) provides, in relevant part, that
“when multiple parties are involved, the court may direct entry of a final
judgment as to one or more, but fewer than all, . . . parties only if the court
expressly determines that there is no just reason for delay.”
thereafter and released Mr. Cacioppo. 2
Vail had hired Officer Anderson one year earlier, in November 2007. Prior
to hiring Officer Anderson, Vail had conducted an oral examination, background
check, and psychological evaluation. Additionally, Vail had contacted a number
of personal and professional references during the hiring process, many of whom
spoke highly of Officer Anderson. Vail had relied on this information when it
decided to hire Officer Anderson.
Prior to joining the Vail Police Department, Officer Anderson had
graduated from a police academy where he received training in the Fourth
Amendment and other areas of the law. After hiring Officer Anderson, Vail
provided him with further training, including on-the-job training through its Field
After the incident with Mr. Cacioppo, the police department conducted a
professional standards investigation regarding the incident. Officer Anderson was
exonerated by the Commander and the Chief of Police as a result of the
investigation. Mr. Cacioppo then initiated the instant suit, and, as relevant here,
asserted a single claim for relief against Vail, based on municipal liability.
Specifically, he alleged that Vail was liable for Officer Anderson’s conduct
For purposes of summary judgment, Vail has conceded that Officer
Anderson violated Mr. Cacioppo’s Fourth Amendment rights during this
because of deficiencies in Vail’s hiring and training of Officer Anderson and
because it had ratified Officer Anderson’s conduct after the investigation.
Vail moved for summary judgment, and in response Mr. Cacioppo asserted
the three individual bases of municipal liability alleged in his complaint—i.e.,
inadequate hiring, failure to train, and ratification. At the hearing on Vail’s
summary judgment motion, however, Mr. Cacioppo argued a hybrid theory
wherein the three bases “dovetail[ed]” to establish liability. Aplt. App. at 455
(Mots. Hr’g Tr., dated Dec. 13, 2011) (“[W]e’ve got three tiers here, all of whom
dovetail together, so to speak.”); see id. at 457 (“[T]hat brings me to where I say
these things dovetail.”); see also id. at 467 (“So I think when you make the water
fall from the hiring with concerns to the concern that he wasn’t trained, and then
giving this—the imprimatur, the approval of his conduct, at the same time all of
this is going on, I think that it is a case that a jury should be allowed to decide
with respect to the liability of the municipality . . . .” (emphases added)).
Nevertheless, the district court interpreted Mr. Cacioppo’s arguments as only
pressing the three theories individually (as recognized in the case law) and
granted summary judgment to Vail. Mr. Cacioppo filed a timely appeal. As we
read his appellate briefs, Mr. Cacioppo pursues only his hybrid theory, arguing
that the three bases need to be looked at together.
the same standard as the district court.” Conroy v. Vilsack, 707 F.3d 1163, 1170
(10th Cir. 2013) (quoting Helm v. Kansas, 656 F.3d 1277, 1284 (10th Cir. 2011))
(internal quotation marks omitted). “Namely, summary judgment is appropriate
‘if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and
the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.’” Morris v. City of Colo.
Springs, 666 F.3d 654, 660 (10th Cir. 2012) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). The
moving party may discharge this burden “by ‘showing’—that is, pointing out to
the district court—that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving
party’s case.” Schneider v. City of Grand Junction Police Dep’t, --- F.3d ----,
2013 WL 2421071, at *4 (10th Cir. June 5, 2013) (quoting Celotex Corp. v.
Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325 (1986)) (internal quotation marks omitted). “If the
movant carries this initial burden, the non-movant may not rest upon its
pleadings, but must set forth specific facts showing a genuine issue for trial as to
those dispositive matters for which it carries the burden of proof.” Barney v.
Pulsipher, 143 F.3d 1299, 1307 (10th Cir. 1998) (quoting Kaul v. Stephan, 83
F.3d 1208, 1212 (10th Cir. 1996)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Finally, in
conducting our review, “we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to
the non-moving party.” Conroy, 707 F.3d at 1170 (quoting EEOC v. C.R.
England, Inc., 644 F.3d 1028, 1037 (10th Cir. 2011)) (internal quotation marks
“A municipality may not be held liable under [42 U.S.C.] § 1983 solely
because its employees inflicted injury on the plaintiff.” Bryson v. City of Okla.
City, 627 F.3d 784, 788 (10th Cir. 2010) (quoting Hinton v. City of Elwood, 997
F.2d 774, 782 (10th Cir. 1993)) (internal quotation marks omitted). It may only
be held liable under § 1983 “for its own unconstitutional or illegal policies.”
Barney, 143 F.3d at 1307 (emphasis added). Thus, “a municipality is liable only
when the official policy [or unofficial custom] is the moving force behind the
injury alleged.” Id. (quoting Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs of Bryan Cnty. v. Brown, 520
U.S. 397, 404 (1997)) (internal quotation marks omitted). A plaintiff must
therefore “identify ‘a government’s policy or custom’ that caused the injury.”
Schneider, 2013 WL 2421071, at *7 (quoting Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436
U.S. 658, 691–92 (1978)). The plaintiff must then show “that the policy was
enacted or maintained with deliberate indifference to an almost inevitable
constitutional injury.” Id. (citing Brown, 520 U.S. at 403). Indeed, “[w]here a
court fails to adhere to rigorous requirements of culpability and causation,
municipal liability collapses into respondeat superior liability.” Brown, 520 U.S.
at 415.
We recently characterized these required showings as three specific
elements: “(1) official policy or custom, (2) causation, and (3) state of mind.”
Schneider, 2013 WL 2421071, at *7. An official policy or custom may take the
(1) a formal regulation or policy statement; (2) an informal
custom amoun[ting] to a widespread practice that, although not
authorized by written law or express municipal policy, is so
permanent and well settled as to constitute a custom or usage
with the force of law; (3) the decisions of employees with final
policymaking authority; (4) the ratification by such final
policymakers of the decisions—and the basis for them—of
subordinates to whom authority was delegated subject to these
policymakers’ review and approval; or (5) the failure to
adequately train or supervise employees, so long as that failure
results from deliberate indifference to the injuries that may be
Bryson, 627 F.3d at 788 (alteration in original) (quoting Brammer-Hoelter v. Twin
Peaks Charter Acad., 602 F.3d 1175, 1189–90 (10th Cir. 2010)) (internal
quotation marks omitted); see also City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378,
388–91 (1989); City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 127 (1988)
(plurality opinion). “The ‘official policy’ requirement was intended to
distinguish acts of the municipality from acts of employees of the municipality,
and thereby make clear that municipal liability is limited to action for which the
municipality is actually responsible.” Schneider, 2013 WL 2421071, at *7
(quoting Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 479 (1986)) (internal
“To establish the causation element, the challenged policy or practice must
be ‘closely related to the violation of the plaintiff’s federally protected right.’”
Id. at *8 (quoting Martin A. Schwartz, Section 1983 Litigation Claims &
Defenses, § 7.12[B] (2013)). Notably, this element “is applied with especial rigor
when the municipal policy or practice is itself not unconstitutional, for example,
when the municipal liability claim is based upon inadequate training, supervision,
[or] deficiencies in hiring.” Id. (quoting Schwartz, supra, at § 7.12) (internal
Finally, for state of mind, the plaintiff “must demonstrate that the
municipal action was taken with ‘deliberate indifference’ as to its known or
obvious consequences.” Id. (quoting Brown, 520 U.S. at 407) (internal quotation
marks omitted). This standard “may be satisfied when the municipality has actual
or constructive notice that its action or failure to act is substantially certain to
result in a constitutional violation, and it consciously or deliberately chooses to
disregard the risk of harm.” Barney, 143 F.3d at 1307; see Schneider, 2013 WL
2421071, at *8. While notice in most instances is established by proving a
pattern of tortious conduct, “[i]n a narrow range of circumstances, . . . deliberate
indifference may be found absent a pattern of unconstitutional behavior if a
violation of federal rights is a highly predictable or plainly obvious consequence
of a municipality’s action or inaction[.]” Schneider, 2013 WL 2421071, at *8
(second alteration in original) (quoting Barney, 143 F.3d at 1307) (internal
While we are guided in our analysis by these three general elements of
municipal liability, the precise inquiry that we must undertake depends on the
type of official policy or custom alleged. Specifically, courts, including the
Supreme Court, have noted the difference between failure-to-train and inadequatehiring claims. See Barney, 143 F.3d at 1308 (“The Court [in Brown] emphasized
the difference between failure-to-train and inadequate-hiring claims and refused
to simply ‘import the reasoning of [City of] Canton[, a failure-to-train case,] into
the hiring context.’” (quoting Brown, 520 U.S. at 410)). As relevant here, there
are distinct inquiries for each of the theories of municipal liability alleged by Mr.
Cacioppo as part of his hybrid approach: inadequate hiring, failure to train, and
ratification. We turn now to a brief review of these.
First, we address the inadequate hiring theory. As the Supreme Court has
explained, “[c]ases involving constitutional injuries allegedly traceable to an illconsidered hiring decision pose the greatest risk that a municipality will be held
liable for an injury that it did not cause.” Brown, 520 U.S. at 415 (emphasis
added). Specifically, “[m]erely showing that a municipal officer engaged in less
than careful scrutiny of an applicant resulting in a generalized risk of harm is not
enough to meet the rigorous requirements of ‘deliberate indifference.’” Barney,
143 F.3d at 1308 (quoting Brown, 520 U.S. at 411). “Establishing municipal
liability in the hiring context requires a finding that ‘this officer was highly likely
to inflict the particular injury suffered by the plaintiff.’” Id. (quoting Brown, 520
U.S. at 412). Therefore, “when reviewing hiring decisions, courts must . . .
carefully ‘test the link’ between the policymaker’s hiring decision and the
particular injury alleged.” Id. (citation omitted).
The second theory is a failure to train. We have previously set out five
requirements that a plaintiff must prove in order to succeed “on a claim against a
municipality for failure to train its police officers in the use of force.” Carr v.
Castle, 337 F.3d 1221, 1228 (10th Cir. 2003) (emphasis added) (quoting Brown v.
Gray, 227 F.3d 1278, 1286 (10th Cir. 2000)) (internal quotation marks omitted);
see Allen v. Muskogee, 119 F.3d 837, 841–42 (10th Cir. 1997). Specifically, a
[1] the training was in fact inadequate . . . [;] [2] the officers
exceeded constitutional limitations on the use of force; [3] the
use of force arose under circumstances that constitute a usual and
recurring situation[] with which police officers must deal; [4] the
inadequate training demonstrates a deliberate indifference on the
part[] of the city toward persons with whom the police officers
come into contact[;] and [5] there is a direct causal link between
the constitutional deprivation and the inadequate training.
Carr, 337 F.3d at 1228 (quoting Brown, 227 F.3d at 1286) (internal quotation
marks omitted); see Allen, 119 F.3d at 841–42; see also City of Canton, 489 U.S.
The final theory that Mr. Cacioppo tries to fit into his hybrid rubric is
ratification. Under this theory, “a municipality will not be found liable . . . unless
a final decisionmaker ratifies an employee’s specific unconstitutional actions, as
well as the basis for these actions.” Bryson, 627 F.3d at 790. In other words,
only “[i]f the authorized policymakers approve a subordinate’s decision and the
basis for it, [will] their ratification . . . be chargeable to the municipality because
their decision is final.” Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 127.
On appeal, Mr. Cacioppo explains that “[i]t is [his] position that the three
theories must be looked at together not separately.” Aplt. Opening Br. at 32. In
other words, he asserts a hybrid theory, arguing that “[w]hen the three theories of
municipal liability are considered together they paint a picture of deliberate
indifference to the Constitutional law relating to seizures.” Id. at 33. However,
such a theory of municipal liability does not find support in the case law nor in
the basic principles underlying municipal liability.
Mr. Cacioppo concedes that “the facts of this case may not fit neatly into
any one of the three applicable bases for municipal liability,” but maintains that
“all three taken together make a compelling case for municipal liability.” Id. at
37. This is so, he explains, because they “dovetail” to reveal Vail’s deliberate
indifference to the Fourth Amendment. However, Mr. Cacioppo sets forth no
legal authority to support the proposition that it is proper to consider these three
distinct bases together under some sort of hybrid rubric, nor have we discovered
any such authority.
Indeed, we have reason to question the compatibility of such a hybrid
theory with the Supreme Court’s general approach to claims of municipal
liability. Specifically, the Court has been careful to limit the scope of the
individual theories of municipal liability. See, e.g., Brown, 520 U.S. at 407
(explaining that in Canton the Court “concluded . . . that an ‘inadequate training’
claim could be the basis for § 1983 liability in ‘limited circumstances’” (emphasis
added) (quoting Canton, 489 U.S. at 387)); id. at 406 (noting its previous
conclusion in Pembaur “that a final decisionmaker’s adoption of a course of
action ‘tailored to a particular situation and not intended to control decisions in
later situations’ may, in some circumstances, give rise to municipal liability”
(emphases added) (quoting Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 481)); id. at 410 (highlighting
the need “[t]o prevent municipal liability for a hiring decision from collapsing
into respondeat superior liability” and the importance of a court “test[ing] the
link between the policymaker’s inadequate decision and the particular injury
alleged”). The potential breadth of the hybrid theory that Mr. Cacioppo
advances—which would elide the substantive weaknesses of proof of any
particular theory of municipal liability just so long as all three theories in the
aggregate revealed a constitutional violation by the municipality—would be at
odds with the Court’s conservative, restrictive approach regarding the individual
theories of liability. Indeed, this hybrid theory would permit a plaintiff to
circumvent the specific requirements of each of the three individual theories.
Standing bereft of legal support, we decline to recognize Mr. Cacioppo’s
amorphous hybrid theory.
Finally, at oral argument Mr. Cacioppo contended that he was in fact not
trying to “hybridize” the three tests but instead, that the bases “dovetail one way
or the other into each.” Oral Arg. at 00:53–1:07. As an initial matter, we think
that Mr. Cacioppo’s purported distinction between “hybridize” and “dovetail,” in
this context, is a distinction without a difference; both terms refer to combining
two or more different items into one. Compare Webster’s Third New
International Dictionary 1106 (1981) (defining “hybridize” as, inter alia, “to
produce hybrids,” and defining “hybrid” as, inter alia, a something “produced by
the blending of two diverse cultures”), with id. at 681 (defining “dovetail” as,
inter alia, “to fit, connect, or combine skillfully or exactly to form a continuous
or harmonious whole”). Additionally, the most natural reading of Mr. Cacioppo’s
briefs is that he is pressing a theory in which all three bases are intertwined—viz.,
the hybrid theory discussed supra.
However, to the extent that Mr. Cacioppo does press the theories
individually in his brief, those arguments are waived due to inadequate briefing.
“It is well-settled that ‘[a]rguments inadequately briefed in the opening brief are
waived.’” United States v. Cooper, 654 F.3d 1104, 1128 (10th Cir. 2011)
(alteration in original) (quoting Adler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 144 F.3d 664, 679
(10th Cir. 1998)); see Bronson v. Swensen, 500 F.3d 1099, 1104 (10th Cir. 2007)
(“[W]e routinely have declined to consider arguments that are . . . inadequately
presented[] in an appellant’s opening brief.”). Specifically, Mr. Cacioppo cites
little to no case law and does not attempt to establish the required showing for
any individual theory. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28 requires “[a]n
appellant’s opening brief [to] identify ‘appellant’s contentions and the reasons for
them, with citations to the authorities and parts of the record on which the
appellant relies.’” Bronson, 500 F.3d at 1104 (emphases added) (quoting Fed. R.
App. P. 28(a)(9)(A)). Thus, as for any arguments Mr. Cacioppo does make
explaining why each claim individually should succeed, “we adhere to our rule
that arguments not set forth fully in the opening brief are waived.” Gaines-Tabb
v. ICI Explosives, USA, Inc., 160 F.3d 613, 624 (10th Cir. 1998).
We affirm the district court’s judgment in favor of Vail. The majority of
our Panel also grants in full the parties’ motions to seal their briefing and parts
of the record, given the highly confidential and personal nature of the information
contained therein. Cf. Eugene S. v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, 663 F.3d
1124, 1135 (10th Cir. 2011). However, Judge Hartz would unseal the parties’
briefs and, thus, would deny the parties’ motions to seal insofar as they relate to
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