Opinion ID: 381330
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Assessing Damages: The Many Shades of Gray

Text: 23 Although Gray's dismissal of Van Ooteghem constituted a violation of the latter's constitutional rights, there is some doubt against whom the back pay award should be assessed. This doubt arises as a result of the fact, noted earlier, that throughout the scenario leading to Van Ooteghem's dismissal, Hartsell Gray appeared in several different roles. The County would have liked at trial to point the accusatory finger at Gray-the-citizen, thus rendering him personally liable to the plaintiff. In return, Gray-the-citizen would have desired to lay blame on his alter ego, Gray-the-official-representative-of-Harris-County, thereby saddling liability on the County. 24 Spurred by these multi-interests on appeal, appellant Hartsell Gray-in-his-official-capacity has attempted to escape all liability by rewriting the script and creating a new hybrid villain-Hartsell Gray-the-Treasurer. On the one hand, appellant argues, it was Gray-the-Treasurer and not Gray-the-citizen who fired Van Ooteghem, so no personal liability can be assessed. At the same time, appellant notes, it was Gray-the-Treasurer and not Gray-the-official-representative-of-Harris-County, who appeared in court, so that to impose liability on Harris County would constitute a violation of due process. Despite these chameleonic antics, the district court determined that Hartsell Gray was acting in his official capacity when he dismissed Van Ooteghem and that the back pay award could be levied against Harris County. We agree. 25
26 In contesting the assessment of damages against Harris County, appellant first argues that a county cannot be held liable for the action of its official in dismissing a county employee. 27 The Supreme Court in Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), clearly delineated the guidelines for determining the cases in which a county will be considered to have acted as a person subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983: 28 We conclude, therefore, that a local government may not be sued for an injury inflicted solely by its employees or agents. Instead, it is when execution of a government's policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury that the government as an entity is responsible under § 1983. 29 98 S.Ct. at 2038. 30 As is true of almost every newly-evolved legal standard, the application of the Monell test is not as easy as its delineation. The Supreme Court in its justifiable authoritarian voice in Monell has spoken and we workers in the judicial vineyard must labor together to attain the result that their wisdom commands. The question whether Gray's dismissal of Van Ooteghem was an injury inflicted solely by (the County's) employees or agents or, alternatively, whether it represented the execution of a government's policy . . . made by (one) whose . . . acts may fairly be said to represent official policy would be difficult to address without guidance. Fortunately, the necessary assistance has been provided by the recent and insightful discussion of the Monell problem in Familias Unidas v. Briscoe, 619 F.2d 391 (5th Cir. 1980). In considering a Texas county's liability for the actions of a county judge in a § 1983 action, Judge Reavley noted: 31 Because of the unique structure of county government in Texas, the judge-like other elected county officials, such as the sheriff and treasurer-holds virtually absolute sway over the particular tasks or areas of responsibility entrusted to him by state statute and is accountable to no one other than the voters for his conduct therein. (S. MacCorkle, D. Smith & J. May, Texas Government 347 (7th ed. 1974)); E. Jones, J. Ericson, L. Brown & R. Trotter, Practicing Politics in Texas 205 (3d ed. 1977). Thus, at least in those areas in which he, alone, is the final authority or ultimate repository of county power, his official conduct and decisions must necessarily be considered those of one whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy for which the county may be held responsible under section 1983. Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. at 694, 98 S.Ct. at 2038. See generally, Schnapper, Civil Rights Litigation After Monell, 79 Colum.L.Rev. 213, 215-19 (1979). 32 Familias Unidas v. Briscoe, 619 F.2d 391 at 404 (5th Cir. 1980) (emphasis added). 33 There is little doubt as to the wisdom of holding a county liable for an official's acts undertaken in those areas in which the official is the final authority or ultimate repository of county power. The only way a county treasurer, or any local government entity, can establish official policy is through the actions of the individual, or group of individuals, who possess final authority within that body. Moreover, in the inevitable bureaucracy of our complex society, the policy decisions need not always emanate from apoghean planes in the hierarchy, but often may have their source in subordinate realms. A county must be held accountable for more than its officially-codified policies; in cases where the written law of a local government entity vests unbridled authority in certain areas in an individual, his decisions become the controlling law and official policy of the entity. 34 Hartsell Gray was an elected official equal in authority to the County Commissioners in his domain. Pursuant to Texas law, Gray had complete authority for the hiring and firing of personnel within the Treasury. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 3912c (Vernon 1966). When he so acted, he acted for Harris County; when he so erred, he erred for the County. Pursuant to the test enunciated in Familias, Gray's dismissal of Van Ooteghem clearly represented official policy for which Harris County may be held liable. 7 35
36 Appellant also argues that even if, in some circumstances, it is proper to hold a county liable for the wrongful actions of its official under Monell, it is a violation of due process to do so when the county itself was not actually named as a defendant in the action. Appellant by no means disputes that Hartsell Gray was named as a defendant in his official capacity; rather, he seems to argue that the mere naming of the official treasurer of the county as a defendant does not serve to make the county itself a party to the action. As noted above, this argument attempts to distinguish between Gray as a Treasurer and Gray as an official representative of Harris County. Since the former Gray cannot satisfy the back pay award from the County Treasury without violating the due process rights of the latter Gray (the county), it is argued, the liability must disappear. 37 Plaintiffs failed to name Harris County as a defendant in its original complaint because, at the time that the complaint was filed, counties could not be held liable as persons under § 1983. See, e. g., Monroe v. Pape, supra. The script for this play had been written and was in dress rehearsal for decision when Monell caused the authors to reexamine the script before a complete rewriting. Although future plaintiffs can, and may be well-advised to, join the local government entity as a defendant in § 1983 actions, we cannot find that the failure to name Harris County expressly as a defendant in this action constituted a violation of due process. 38 Courts have long recognized that suits against members of government in their official capacity directly implicate the interests of the government itself. As early as 1828, the Supreme Court noted: 39 The claim upon the Governor is as a governor, he is sued, not by his name, but his title. The demand made upon him is not made personally, but officially. 40 The decree is pronounced not against the person, but the officer, and appeared to have been pronounced against the successor of the original defendant, as the appealed bond was executed by a different governor from him who filed the information. In such a case, where the chief magistrate of a State is sued, not by his name, but by his style of office, and the claim made upon him is entirely in his official character, we think that the State itself may be considered a party on the record. If the State is not a party, there is no party against whom a decree can be made. . . . This not being a proceeding against the thing, but against the person, a person capable of appearing as a defendant, against whom a decree can be pronounced, must be a party to the cause before a decree can be regularly pronounced. 41 Governor of Georgia v. Madrazo, 1 Pet. (26 U.S.) 110, 123-4, 7 L.Ed. 73 (1828) (emphasis added). 42 The widespread recognition that the government entity itself is the real party in interest in official capacity suits has, in the past, presented severe difficulty for courts faced with applying the person requirement in § 1983 suits. For example, the Second Circuit in its consideration of Monell v. Department of Social Services, 532 F.2d 259 (2nd Cir. 1976), rev'd, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), held that since municipalities cannot be sued as persons under § 1983 and since suits against city officials in their official capacity were mere subterfuge for suits against the real party in interest, the city itself, then city officials could not be sued in their official capacity under § 1983. Id. at 266. On certiorari, the Supreme Court in Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), specifically agreed with the Second Circuit's conclusion that suits against city officials in their official capacity were merely an alternative form of pleading a suit against the city; however, the Court concluded that both forms of suit were permissible under § 1983. In so doing, the Court expressly equated suits against officers in their official capacity with suits against the government: 43 Since official capacity suits generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent . . . our holding today that local governments can be sued under § 1983 necessarily decides that local government officials sued in their official capacities are persons under § 1983 in those cases in which, as here, a local government would be suable in its own name. 44 Id. at 2036 n.55. 45 As a practical matter as well, Harris County has been fairly treated. Since the inception of this lawsuit, Harris County has been aware, at a minimum, that a former employee was seeking reinstatement-a remedy which by its nature could have implications only for the County. Pursuant to statute, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 332c (Vernon 1973), all defendants in this action were represented by a county attorney. The County had both notice and opportunity to be heard, sufficient to comport with due process. We find, therefore, that the district court's assessment of damages against the county treasury-in light of Hartsell Gray having acted in his official capacity when he dismissed Van Ooteghem-did not constitute a violation of due process.