Source: http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19800408_0040890.C02.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2016-10-22 09:12:01
Document Index: 48463366

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

| Turpin v. Mailet
THOMAS TURPIN, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,v.JOSEPH MAILET, ET AL., DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
Appeal by the City of West Haven from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut entered by Judge Jon O. Newman after a jury trial in which the City was found liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a violation of plaintiff's constitutional rights on the part of municipal employees. Reversed .
Before Moore and Mansfield, Circuit Judges, and Palmieri, District Judge.*fn*
In Monell the Supreme Court held that municipalities may be sued for damages under § 1983 when "the action that is alleged to be unconstitutional implements or executes a policy statement, ordinance, regulation or decision officially adopted and promulgated by that body's officers" or is "visited pursuant to governmental "custom' even though such a custom has not received formal approval through the body's official decisionmaking channels." 436 U.S. at 690-91, 98 S. Ct. at 2036. The plaintiffs in Monell, pregnant municipal employees, alleged that they had been required to take unpaid leaves of absence before such leaves were medically necessary. Because the action claimed to be unconstitutional in Monell was taken pursuant to an express official policy of municipal decisionmakers it was embodied in the municipality's rules and regulations the Court had no occasion to consider the type or quantum of evidence required to prove an implicit official policy that could be the basis of municipal liability. The Court, however, specifically rejected the doctrine of respondeat superior for such a § 1983 cause of action, stating that "a municipality cannot be held liable solely because it employs a tortfeasor." 436 U.S. at 691, 98 S. Ct. at 2036 (emphasis in original).
At issue here is whether the action taken by the City of West Haven after the trial of Skeens constituted an "official policy" within the meaning of Monell and whether that policy caused Turpin to be subjected to a denial of his constitutional rights. This case is therefore unlike Monell, where the challenged official policy and conduct was embodied in a municipal regulation, leaving for the fact finder only the questions of whether the policy caused the injury to the plaintiff there and whether the municipality was entitled to some sort of qualified immunity, an issue left unanswered by Monell. See Owen v. City of Independence, Mo., 589 F.2d 335 (8th Cir. 1978), cert. granted, 48 U.S.L.W. 3217 (1979);*fn1 Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (2d Cir. 1979); Bertot v. School District, No. 1, Albany County, Wyoming, 613 F.2d 245 (10th Cir. 1979) (en banc); Paxman v. Campbell, 612 F.2d 848 (4th Cir. 1979) (en banc); Huemmer v. Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, 474 F. Supp. 704 (D.Md.1979); Ohland v. City of Montpelier, 467 F. Supp. 324 (D.Va.1979); Gross v. Pomerleau, 465 F. Supp. 1167 (D.Md.1979); Shuman v. City of Philadelphia, 470 F. Supp. 449 (E.D.Pa.1979).
The City's first objection to the decision below is that the district court erred by adopting our language in Turpin I to charge the jury that a municipality may be held liable when it "authorizes, sanctions or ratifies unconstitutional action taken by one of its police officers."*fn2 However, we find no significant difference between the district court's instructions here and the principles announced in Monell. We must therefore reject at the outset appellant's suggestion that an "official policy" within the meaning of Monell cannot be inferred from informal acts or omissions of supervisory municipal officials. Indeed, by holding that a municipality can be held liable for its "custom" Monell recognized that less than formal municipal conduct can in some instances give rise to municipal liability under § 1983. To require that senior officials must have formally adopted or promulgated a policy before their conduct may be treated as "official" would for present purposes render Monell a nullity, exalting form over substance. Moreover, in formulating a standard in Turpin I for determining municipal liability we looked for guidance to those cases that had addressed the liability of a municipal supervisor under § 1983, notably the Supreme Court's decision in Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 96 S. Ct. 598, 46 L. Ed. 2d 561 (1976), where it denied relief because plaintiffs had there failed to show an "affirmative link between the occurrence of the various incidents of police misconduct and the adoption of any plan or policy by petitioners express or otherwise showing their authorization or approval of such misconduct." 423 U.S. at 371, 96 S. Ct. at 604 (emphasis added). Thereafter in Turpin II we held that the standard announced in Turpin I "was essentially co-extensive" with the standard announced in Monell. We see no reason to question that holding here.*fn3 We accordingly hold that if the City of West Haven impliedly or tacitly authorized, approved or encouraged harassment of Turpin, it promulgated an official policy within the meaning of Monell.
Appellant, however, contends that § 1983 does not authorize recovery where municipal inaction in this case failure to discipline Skeens causes the subsequent unconstitutional conduct. Although a number of courts have held that a supervisor may not be held liable unless he affirmatively participates in, encourages or directs the commission of illegal acts, e. g., Coffy v. Multi-County Narcotics Bureau, 600 F.2d 570 (6th Cir. 1979); Lewis v. Hyland, 554 F.2d 93 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 931, 98 S. Ct. 419, 54 L. Ed. 2d 291 (1977); Kostka v. Hogg, 560 F.2d 37 (1st Cir. 1977), others have permitted recovery if the supervisor's failure to act is blameworthy. See, Little v. Walker, 552 F.2d 193 (7th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 932, 98 S. Ct. 1507, 55 L. Ed. 2d 530 (1978); Redmond v. Baxley, 475 F. Supp. 1111 (E.D.Mich.1979). More important, the Supreme Court in Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S. Ct. 285, 50 L. Ed. 2d 251 (1976), held that to state a cause of action against public officials for the deprivation of the right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment plaintiff must allege "acts or omissions sufficiently harmful to evidence deliberate indifference to serious medical needs." 429 U.S. at 106, 97 S. Ct. at 292 (emphasis added).
The allegations here clearly meet that standard.*fn4 We see no reason why an official policy cannot be inferred from the omissions of a municipality's supervisory officials, as well as from its acts. The issue of authorization, approval or encouragement is generally one of fact, not law. For example, where senior personnel have knowledge of a pattern of constitutionally offensive acts by their subordinates but fail to take remedial steps, the municipality may be held liable for a subsequent violation if the superior's inaction amounts to deliberate indifference or to tacit authorization of the offensive acts. See Smith v. Ambrogio, 456 F. Supp. 1130, 1136 (D.Conn.1978); Popow v. City of Margate, 476 F. Supp. 1237 (D.N.J.1979). Although that standard is undoubtedly difficult to meet, see Lewis v. Hyland, supra; Smith v. Ambrogio, supra at 1136, we cannot say as a matter of law that failure to act may never give rise to an official policy within the meaning of Monell.*fn5
Appellant next contends that, even if a policy can be inferred from omissions of a municipality, such as where it acquiesces in a pattern of illegal conduct, such a policy cannot be inferred from the failure of those in charge to discipline a single police officer for a single incident of illegality. We agree that, absent more evidence of supervisory indifference, such as acquiescence in a prior pattern of conduct, a policy could not ordinarily be inferred from a single incident of illegality such as a first arrest without probable cause or with excessive use of force. See, e. g., Smith v. Ambrogio, supra; Schramm v. Krischell, 84 F.R.D. 294 (D.Conn.1979); Randle v. Gokey, 469 F. Supp. 452 (N.D.Ohio 1979); see Knight v. Carlson, 478 F. Supp. 55 (E.D.Cal.1979); Stringer v. City of Chicago, 464 F. Supp. 887 (N.D.Ill.1979); Schweiker v. Gordon, 442 F. Supp. 1134 (E.D.Pa.1977); Jones v. McElroy, 429 F. Supp. 848 (E.D.Pa.1977).*fn6 However, a single, unusually brutal or egregious beating administered by a group of municipal employees may be sufficiently out of the ordinary to warrant an inference that it was attributable to inadequate training or supervision amounting to deliberate indifference or "gross negligence" on the part of officials in charge. See Owens v. Haas, 601 F.2d 1242 (2d Cir. 1979). See Leite v. City of Providence, 463 F. Supp. 585 (D.R.I.1978). But cf. Popow v. Margate, 476 F. Supp. 1237 (D.N.J.1979) (rejecting Owens ).
Applying these principles here, Turpin alleged not merely a first unlawful arrest, which might properly be dismissible against the City, but a second arrest (May 6, 1975) claimed to have been caused by a policy of the City to harass Turpin in violation of his constitutional rights. Unlike the "first arrest" cases, which struggle with whether a single episode can suggest a policy, his claims were sufficient to entitle him to a trial.*fn7 Indeed, we so held in Turpin I.
Turpin's proof of an official policy of harassment therefore boiled down to the Board's failure to discipline Skeens. In denying the City's motion for judgment n. o. v. Judge Newman recognized that whether this evidence was sufficient to meet the applicable standard presented a "close question," which "probably should be reviewed by the Court of Appeals." Upon this review we conclude that the evidence was inadequate as a matter of law. Although the Board's failure might suggest a slight disregard for Turpin's rights,*fn8 it falls far short of constituting deliberate indifference to those rights or a tacit encouragement of members of the Police Department to go out and harass Turpin. While it is true that juries are entitled to some latitude in drawing inferences as to the existence of an official policy and that the standard for a directed verdict and a judgment notwithstanding the verdict is a difficult one to meet, Simblest v. Maynard, supra; Armstrong v. Commerce Tankers Corp., 423 F.2d 957, 959 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 833, 91 S. Ct. 67, 27 L. Ed. 2d 65 (1970); C-Suzanne Beauty Salon, Ltd. v. General Insurance Co. of America, 574 F.2d 106, 112 n.10 (2d Cir. 1978), there are limits to that latitude, which were exceeded in the present case. In our view no reasonable person could find, in the light of the evidence adduced at trial, that Mailet's unlawful arrest of Turpin was made pursuant to any official policy on the part of the City of West Haven.