Opinion ID: 785414
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The District Court's Ruling on Municipal Liability

Text: 28 The district court next held that, even if plaintiffs had raised issues of fact as to whether their constitutional rights were violated, they had not proffered sufficient evidence from which a factfinder could conclude that the Town should be held liable for the police officers' conduct. Although plaintiffs' brief on appeal is rather opaque as to their legal theories of municipal liability, plaintiffs argued below that the Town should be held liable for the officers' alleged use of excessive force because it failed to supervise the officers at both demonstrations, and failed to train the officers after their conduct at the first demonstration evidenced a need for additional training. We find that plaintiffs have proffered ample evidence to raise genuine issues of material fact as to their failure to supervise theory, but that they have not submitted sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the Town is liable for any failure to train its officers.
29 In Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), the Supreme Court established that [l]ocal governing bodies... can be sued directly under [42 U.S.C.] § 1983 for monetary, declaratory, or injunctive relief where, as here, 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. Id. at 690, 98 S.Ct. 2018. The Court reached this conclusion by first holding that municipalities were persons within the meaning of § 1983. Monell then found that the language of § 1983, which provides that [e]very person who... subjects, or causes to be subjected, any... person ... to the deprivation of rights... secured by the Constitution ... shall be liable to the party injured, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (emphasis added), requires a causal connection between the actions of the municipality itself and the alleged constitutional violation. See Monell, 436 U.S. at 691-92, 98 S.Ct. 2018. Demonstrating that the municipality itself caused or is implicated in the constitutional violation is the touchstone of establishing that a municipality can be held liable for unconstitutional actions taken by municipal employees. 30 Monell established that alleging that a municipal policy or ordinance is itself unconstitutional is always sufficient to establish the necessary causal connection between the municipality and the constitutional deprivation, because an employee's act of enforcing an unconstitutional municipal policy may be considered the act of the municipality itself. Id. at 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018; see also Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 479-80, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986). Conversely, constitutional torts committed by city employees without official sanction or authority do not typically implicate the municipality in the deprivation of constitutional rights, and therefore the employer-employee relationship is in itself insufficient to establish the necessary causation. Id. Thus, a city cannot be held liable under § 1983 on a theory of respondeat superior. 31 Later cases have considerably broadened the concept of official municipal action. In Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, the Court recognized that although the phrase `official policy' often refers to formal rules or understandings ... that are intended to, and do, establish fixed plans of action to be followed ... consistently and over time, a city frequently chooses a course of action tailored to a particular situation and not intended to control decisions in later situations. Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 480-81, 106 S.Ct. 1292. Thus, when a city decides to adopt [a] particular course of action[,] ... it surely represents an act of official government `policy' as that term is commonly understood. Id. at 481, 106 S.Ct. 1292. It is not necessary, therefore, for plaintiffs to prove that a municipality has followed a particular course of action repeatedly in order to establish the existence of a municipal policy; rather, a single action taken by a municipality is sufficient to expose it to liability. 32 Moreover, municipal liability does not lie only where the official policy or ordinance is itself unconstitutional. See City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 387, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989); Fiacco v. City of Rensselaer, New York, 783 F.2d 319, 326 (2d Cir.1986). Where a city's official policy is constitutional, but the city causes its employees to apply it unconstitutionally, such that the unconstitutional application might itself be considered municipal policy, the city may be held liable for its employees' unconstitutional acts. Such circumstances may be found, for example, where the city is aware that its policy may be unconstitutionally applied by inadequately trained employees but the city consciously chooses not to train them, City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 387, 109 S.Ct. 1197, or where the city's official policy on the reasonable use of force in arrests is valid, but the city's actual practice is to use excessive force, see Fiacco, 783 F.2d at 327 (stating that the practice of using excessive force can be the basis for municipal liability even though the city's policy on force is itself constitutional). 33 Where plaintiffs allege that their rights were deprived not as a result of the enforcement of an unconstitutional official policy or ordinance, but by the unconstitutional application of a valid policy, or by a city employee's single tortious decision or course of action, the inquiry focuses on whether the actions of the employee in question may be said to represent the conscious choices of the municipality itself. Such an action constitutes the act of the municipality and therefore provides a basis for municipal liability where it is taken by, or is attributable to, one of the city's authorized policymakers. Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 481-82, 106 S.Ct. 1292. Thus, even a single action by a decisionmaker who possesses final authority to establish municipal policy with respect to the action ordered, id., is sufficient to implicate the municipality in the constitutional deprivation for the purposes of § 1983. 34 More often than not, however, plaintiffs allege constitutional deprivations at the hands of the lower-level municipal employees to whom some authority has been delegated, rather than at the hands of those officials with final policymaking authority. While allowing the municipality to be held liable on the basis of the mere delegation of authority by a policymaking official would result in respondeat superior liability, allowing delegation, without more, to defeat municipal liability would contravene the remedial purposes of § 1983. Therefore, § 1983 plaintiffs may establish that the city is liable for their injuries by proving that the authorized policymakers approve[d] a subordinate's decision and the basis for it. City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 127, 108 S.Ct. 915, 99 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988) (plurality opinion). 35 Thus, when a subordinate municipal official is alleged to have committed the constitutional violation, municipal liability turns on the plaintiffs' ability to attribute the subordinates' conduct to the actions or omissions of higher ranking officials with policymaking authority. One means of doing so, of course, is to establish that a policymaker ordered or ratified the subordinates' actions. See Weber v. Dell, 804 F.2d 796, 803 (2d Cir.1986) (holding that liability could be premised on sheriff's ordering of unconstitutional strip searches). Another method of implicating a policymaking official through subordinates' conduct is to show that the policymaker was aware of a subordinate's unconstitutional actions, and consciously chose to ignore them, effectively ratifying the actions. See, e.g., Sorlucco v. New York City Police Dep't, 971 F.2d 864, 870-71 (2d Cir.1992) (stating that municipal liability lies where the subordinate's misconduct is so manifest, as to imply the constructive acquiescence of senior policymaking officials). Thus, where a policymaking official exhibits deliberate indifference to constitutional deprivations caused by subordinates, such that the official's inaction constitutes a deliberate choice, that acquiescence may be properly thought of as a city `policy or custom' that is actionable under § 1983. City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 388, 109 S.Ct. 1197 (citations omitted); see also Vann v. City of New York, 72 F.3d 1040, 1049 (2d Cir. 1995), Jeffes v. Barnes, 208 F.3d 49, 63 (2d Cir.2000) (holding that sheriff's acquiescence in unconstitutional retaliation could be inferred from his tolerance and encouragement of harassment of plaintiffs). Moreover, because a single action on a policymaker's part is sufficient to create a municipal policy, a single instance of deliberate indifference to subordinates' actions can provide a basis for municipal liability. 36
37 Plaintiffs here assert that the alleged use of excessive force, although committed by subordinate-level police officers, is chargeable to the Town because of Chief McCue's presence at the demonstrations. As the Town concedes that McCue has final policymaking authority with respect to the actions of the police force, plaintiffs argue that McCue ratified the officers' alleged brutality by acting with deliberate indifference in failing to prevent the violence at each demonstration. Plaintiffs advance two distinct theories of McCue's deliberate indifference, alleging that he failed to supervise the officers and also that he failed to train them. 7 Because these theories emphasize different facts and require different showings in order to establish deliberate indifference, 8 they must be analyzed independently, rather than evaluated collectively, as in the district court's analysis.
38 Plaintiffs' first theory of municipal liability is that the need to supervise the police officers' conduct at both demonstrations should have been obvious to Chief McCue because he allegedly witnessed the brutality, but that he nonetheless failed to supervise the officers in a way that would have prevented the violation of plaintiffs' constitutional rights. In Fiacco v. City of Rensselaer, 783 F.2d at 326-27, we held that plaintiffs injured by a police officer's use of excessive force may establish a basis for municipal liability by alleging that the city's policymakers were knowingly and deliberately indifferent to the possibility that its police officers were wont to violate the constitutional rights of arrestees. Id. at 326. In this context, plaintiffs must establish McCue's deliberate indifference by showing that the need for more or better supervision to protect against constitutional violations was obvious, but that McCue made no meaningful attempt to forestall or prevent the unconstitutional conduct. Vann, 72 F.3d at 1049. 39 Plaintiffs have proffered ample evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could conclude that the necessity for more supervision was glaringly obvious at both demonstrations and that McCue ignored the alleged constitutional violations in progress. Plaintiffs' proffered affidavits, if credited, establish that at both demonstrations, police officers inflicted severe pain on arrestees and made comments suggesting that they intended to inflict pain, and that continuous screams of pain punctuated the demonstrations. Thus, plaintiffs' evidence would allow a reasonable factfinder to conclude that violence did not occur as an isolated instance, involving a few protesters and officers in one physical location, but that it permeated the entire arrest scene. Given this environment, a factfinder could infer from McCue's presence at the demonstrations that he must have witnessed the violence and heard the screams. Plaintiffs also aver that, during the second demonstration, McCue not only observed, but actively encouraged and supervised some of the allegedly brutal treatment of the arrestees, including yank[ing] one arrestee's head up by the hair, and failing to intervene as another protester's face was pressed to the floor while an officer put a knee into her back. 40 The Town argues, however, that the district court correctly concluded that plaintiffs failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to McCue's failure to supervise because they have not proffered evidence that the demonstrators repeatedly complained about the excessive force after the demonstrations, or that McCue repeatedly failed to investigate such complaints. This argument is misplaced. While we have held that proof of a policymaker's failure to respond to repeated complaints of civil rights violations would be sufficient to establish deliberate indifference, Vann, 72 F.3d at 1049, we have never required such a showing. The means of establishing deliberate indifference will vary given the facts of the case and need not rely on any particular factual showing. The operative inquiry is whether the facts suggest that the policymaker's inaction was the result of a conscious choice rather than mere negligence. City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 389, 109 S.Ct. 1197 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 410, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997) (stating that deliberate indifference... requir[es] proof that a municipal actor disregarded a known or obvious consequence of his action or inaction (internal quotation marks omitted)). 41 Thus, plaintiffs' evidence must establish only that a policymaking official had notice of a potentially serious problem of unconstitutional conduct, such that the need for corrective action or supervision was obvious, Vann, 72 F.3d at 1049, and the policymaker's failure to investigate or rectify the situation evidences deliberate indifference, rather than mere negligence or bureaucratic inaction. Considered under this standard, plaintiffs' proffered affidavits are sufficient to withstand summary judgment, because the evidence allows the inference that McCue himself witnessed (and perhaps encouraged) the unconstitutional conduct, and that the conduct was so blatantly unconstitutional that McCue's inaction could be the result of deliberate indifference to the protesters' constitutional rights. 42 Rather than considering plaintiffs' allegations as a whole, the district court treated each allegation as to McCue and the officers' actions as an isolated act, leading it to conclude that none of plaintiffs' allegations that McCue witnessed or encouraged the brutality indicated that he was acting pursuant to a municipal policy. This analysis of the evidence, however, misapprehends both the force of plaintiffs' evidence, and the showing necessary to establish municipal liability. A reasonable factfinder, considering the demonstrators' allegations together and viewing McCue's conduct as a whole rather than as a series of unconnected acts, could conclude that McCue's conduct throughout the two demonstrations evinced deliberate indifference to the demonstrators' rights. More importantly, even under the district court's view of the evidence, plaintiffs' allegations may have been sufficient to withstand summary judgment. Because deliberate indifference need not be proven by any particular method, and need not involve allegations of a repeated failure to act, McCue's witnessing of a single, isolated act of brutality might be sufficient to allow a factfinder to infer deliberate indifference if the use of force were so extreme as to leave no doubt that McCue consciously chose not to act. 9 See Turpin v. Mailet, 619 F.2d 196, 202 (2d Cir.1980) (noting that while a single instance of inaction on policymaker's part may not be sufficient to establish deliberate indifference, a single, unusually brutal or egregious beating administered by a group of municipal employees may support an inference that the conduct was attributable to inadequate supervision amounting to deliberate indifference). Moreover, as discussed above, a single instance of deliberate indifference on the part of a policymaker is sufficient to provide a basis for municipal liability; there is no need, as the district court apparently assumed, to establish that policymaking officials maintained a consistent policy of deliberate indifference.
43 Plaintiffs also claim that McCue failed to train the officers not to use excessive force in making arrests after the events at the first protest demonstrated the need for better training. In City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris, the Supreme Court established that a municipality can be liable for failing to train its employees where it acts with deliberate indifference in disregarding the risk that its employees will unconstitutionally apply its policies without more training. See City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 387-90, 109 S.Ct. 1197. Plaintiffs contend that they have proffered sufficient evidence for a reasonable factfinder to conclude that the Town's failure to train constituted deliberate indifference within the meaning of City of Canton and Walker v. City of New York, 974 F.2d 293 (2d Cir.1992) (establishing three-pronged test for demonstrating deliberate indifference in the context of a failure to train claim). They have neglected to offer any evidence, however, as to the purported inadequacies in the Town's training program and the causal relationship between those inadequacies and the alleged constitutional violations. Insofar as plaintiffs' claim is premised on a failure to train, therefore, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment. 44 City of Canton requires that plaintiffs establish not only that the officials' purported failure to train occurred under circumstances that could constitute deliberate indifference, but also that plaintiffs identify a specific deficiency in the city's training program and establish that that deficiency is closely related to the ultimate injury, such that it actually caused the constitutional deprivation. City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 391, 109 S.Ct. 1197. Thus, the Supreme Court emphasized in City of Canton that plaintiffs must establish that the officer's shortcomings... resulted from ... a faulty training program rather than from the negligent administration of a sound program or other unrelated circumstances. 10 Id. at 390-91, 109 S.Ct. 1197. The elements of an identified training deficiency and a close causal relationship, which together require the plaintiffs to prove that the deprivation occurred as the result of a municipal policy rather than as a result of isolated misconduct by a single actor, ensure that a failure to train theory does not collapse into respondeat superior liability. 45 Plaintiffs here have proffered no evidence of the Town's training programs or advanced any theory as to how a training deficiency caused the police officers to use excessive force at the second demonstration. Plaintiffs' failure to train theory is based solely on their evidence that the police used excessive force on two successive occasions. City of Canton unequivocally requires, however, that the factfinder's inferences of inadequate training and causation be based on more than the mere fact that the misconduct occurred in the first place. 11 Id. at 390-92, 109 S.Ct. 1197 (To adopt lesser standards of fault and causation would open municipalities to unprecedented liability under § 1983.); see also Dwares v. City of New York, 985 F.2d 94, 101 (2d Cir.1993) (stating that an allegation of an instance of police misconduct was insufficient to raise the inference that the police had been improperly trained). It is impossible to prevail on a claim that the Town's training program was inadequate without any evidence as to whether the Town trained its officers between the two demonstrations, how the training was conducted, how better or different training could have prevented the challenged conduct, or how a hypothetically well-trained officer would have acted under the circumstances to remove passively resisting protesters. City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 391, 109 S.Ct. 1197. Moreover, plaintiffs have provided no evidence tending to rule out those causes of the excessive force that would not support municipal liability, such as the negligent administration of a valid program, or one or more officers' negligent or intentional disregard of their training, and therefore no reasonable factfinder could conclude that the excessive force occurred as a result of training deficiencies. See id. at 390-91, 109 S.Ct. 1197. Because plaintiffs have failed to raise an inference that the police were improperly trained and that this training caused them to use excessive force, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment as to this theory of municipal liability. 46