Opinion ID: 6331735
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Entity Claims

Text: The Estate also brought a Monell claim, asserting Sheriff Shrader caused the violation of Ms. Burgaz’s rights by (1) tolerating violations of safety practices, and (2) failing to train and supervise deputies properly. Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978). The Estate contends its entity claims against Sheriff Shrader were improperly dismissed. We disagree. Monell allows plaintiffs to sue local governing bodies (or their functional equivalents) directly under § 1983 for constitutional violations pursuant to a body’s policy, practice, or custom. Quintana v. Santa Fe Cnty. Bd. of Comm’rs, 973 F.3d 1022, 1033 (10th Cir. 2020). To state a Monell claim against Sheriff Shrader, the Estate must allege facts showing: (1) an official policy or custom, (2) causation, and (3) deliberate indifference. Id. at 1034. For a municipality (or sheriff, in this case) to be held liable for either a failure-to-train or failure-to-supervise claim, an individual officer (or deputy) must have committed a constitutional violation. Crowson v. Washington Cnty., Utah, 983 F.3d 1166, 1187 (10th Cir. 2020) (“[A] failure-to-train claim may not be maintained [against a municipality] without a showing of a constitutional violation by the allegedly un-, under-, or improperly-trained officer.”); Id. at 1191 (citing approvingly Trigalet v. City of Tulsa, 239 F.3d 1150, 1155–56 (10th Cir. 2001), which conditioned municipal liability for a failure-to-supervise claim on an individual officer’s constitutional violation). Because neither individual - 15 - Appellate Case: 21-1049 Document: 010110671118 Date Filed: 04/14/2022 Page: 16 deputy violated Ms. Burgaz’s constitutional rights, the failure-to-train and failure-to-supervise claims against the sheriff necessarily fail. In other types of Monell claims, such as those alleging an unconstitutional policy or custom, plaintiffs need not demonstrate an individual officer committed a constitutional violation. Instead, “the combined acts or omissions of several employees acting under a governmental policy or custom may violate an individual’s constitutional rights.” 6 See Garcia v. Salt Lake Cnty., 768 F.2d 303, 310 (10th Cir. 1985). In situations where “the municipal [customs] devolve[] responsibility across multiple officers,” the customs “may be unconstitutional precisely because they fail to ensure that any single officer is positioned to prevent the constitutional violation.” See Crowson, 983 F.3d at 1191. Even so, the Estate’s last remaining basis for its Monell claim—the sheriff’s alleged custom of ignoring safety policy violations—also fails. The Estate argued that a Monell claim requires “a municipal employee [have] committed a constitutional violation.” Aplt. Br. at 25 (quotation marks omitted) (citing Myers v. Okla. Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs, 151 F.3d 1313, 1316 (10th Cir. 1998)). It failed to raise the argument that the combined actions of deputies can suffice for certain Monell claims. Because the Estate predicates its 6 This point of law has been explicitly reaffirmed despite subsequent contrary precedent. See Crowson v. Washington Cnty., Utah, 983 F.3d 1166, 1191 (10th Cir. 2020) (noting that Garcia is controlling); Quintana v. Santa Fe Cnty. Bd. of Comm’rs, 973 F.3d 1022, 1033 (10th Cir. 2020) (applying the rule from Garcia). - 16 - Appellate Case: 21-1049 Document: 010110671118 Date Filed: 04/14/2022 Page: 17 unconstitutional-custom claim on the existence of an individual constitutional violation, and no individual deputy committed a constitutional violation here, the claim fails. To be sure, the Estate could have argued that the deputies’ combined actions or omissions somehow violated Ms. Burgaz’s rights. 7 But the Estate failed to do so, and instead only made the general allegation that “[Ms.] Burgaz would still be alive” had the sheriff “actually enforced [the corrective] policies.” Aplt. Br. at 27. Thus, that argument is waived before this court. Commonwealth Prop. Advocates, LLC v. Mortgage Elec. Registration Sys., Inc., 680 F.3d 1194, 1200 (10th Cir. 2011) (holding issues or arguments insufficiently raised in the opening brief are deemed waived). For those reasons, we conclude the dismissal of the Monell claim was proper.