Opinion ID: 768198
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Summary Judgment on the Issue of Causation

Text: 63 The issue of whether the relevant conduct of the pertinent policymaking official caused the injury of which the plaintiff complains is a question of fact for the jury: 64 Once those officials who have the power to make official policy on a particular issue have been identified, it is for the jury to determine whether their decisions have caused the deprivation of rights at issue by policies which affirmatively command that it occur, see Monell, 436 U.S., at 661, n. 2, or by acquiescence in a longstanding practice or custom which constitutes the standard operating procedure of the local governmental entity. 65 Jett, 491 U.S. at 737 (emphasis omitted). A plaintiff may prove the causation element by showing either that the official who is a final policymaker in the area directly committed or commanded the violation of the plaintiff's federal rights, see id., or that while the policymaker himself engaged in facially lawful ... action, he indirectly caused the misconduct of a subordinate municipal employee, Board of the County Commissioners v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 405-07 (1997). Because respondeat superior liability is not permissible, however, the courts must apply rigorous standards of culpability and causation ... to ensure that the indirect-causation theory not result in the municipality's being held liable solely for the actions of its employee. Id. at 405; see, e.g., City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 388-92 (1989). 66 With that caveat, it is well established that a municipal policymaker may be found to have caused subordinate officials' conduct by reason of the policymaker's acquiescence in a longstanding practice or custom which constitutes the 'standard operating procedure' of the local governmental entity. Jett, 491 U.S. at 737. Thus, an act performed pursuant to a 'custom' that has not been formally approved by an appropriate decision-maker may fairly subject a municipality to liability on the theory that the relevant practice is so widespread as to have the force of law. Brown, 520 U.S. at 404; see also Sorlucco v. New York City Police Department, 971 F.2d 864, 871 (2d Cir. 1992) (municipality may be held liable where the unconstitutional conduct of subordinate employees is so manifest as to imply the constructive acquiescence of senior policy-making officials). 67 Further, municipal liability may be premised on the municipality's failure to train its employees where that ... failure to train reflects deliberate indifference to ... constitutional rights. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. at 392. Proof of deliberate indifference is a sine qua non for the imposition of liability on this basis. See id. at 389 (Only where a municipality's failure to train its employees in a relevant respect evidences a 'deliberate indifference' to the rights of its inhabitants can such a shortcoming be properly thought of as a city 'policy or custom' that is actionable under 1983.). The Harris Court explained that 68 [i]t may seem contrary to common sense to assert that a municipality will actually have a policy of not taking reasonable steps to train its employees. But it may happen that in light of the duties assigned to specific officers or employees the need for more or different training is so obvious, and the inadequacy so likely to result in the violation of constitutional rights, that the policymakers of the city can reasonably be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the need. In that event, the failure to provide proper training may fairly be said to represent a policy for which the city is responsible, and for which the city may be held liable if it actually causes injury. 69 Id. at 390 (footnote omitted). See also Vann v. City of New York, 72 F.3d 1040, 1049 (2d Cir. 1995) (To prove such deliberate indifference, the plaintiff must show that the need for more or better supervision to protect against constitutional violations was obvious.); Ricciuti v. N.Y.C. Transit Authority, 941 F.2d 119, 123 (2d Cir. 1991) (deliberate indifference may be shown by evidence that the municipality had notice of but repeatedly failed to make any meaningful investigation into charges that its employees were violating citizens' constitutional rights). 70 In the present case, the evidence adduced by plaintiffs sufficed to present several triable issues as to the existence of a municipal policy causing retaliation against plaintiffs for the exercise of their First Amendment rights to speak of the April 29, 1994 incident of inmate abuse. The reprisals included numerous menacing telephone calls from the Jail; a poster depicting Jeffes with his eyes blacked out, and bearing the words NOW MAYBE I CAN DIE (Jeffes Aff. 4 & Ex.B.); explicit threats of physical harm; a visit to Jeffes's home by unidentified men who told his wife that his Jail-connected acts were likely to cause Jeffes to be injured; acts that exposed Jeffes's home to the risk of destruction by fire; and the endangerment of Jeffes's life when harassing officers interfered with his attempts to communicate by walkie-talkie from the Jail's cell blocks. These acts were overtly critical of plaintiffs' breaches of the Jail's code of silence, and there was evidence from which the jury could infer that that code constituted Sheriff Barnes's standard operating procedure. Major Elwell, who was responsible for the Jail's day-to-day operations, testified that the code of silence existed and that he work[ed] within it ever [sic] day. (Elwell Dep. at 153.) As a general matter under that code, officers were not to disclose wrongdoing by other officers. In the wake of the April 1994 inmate-abuse incident, Barnes himself told correction officer O'Connor that the officers should stick[] together. (O'Connor Dep. at 52-53.) After Carlos testified at the trial of the four officers indicted in connection with that incident, Barnes called him a '[r]at' and a '[s]nitch' and promised retribution. (Carlos Dep. at 58.) Given Barnes's autonomy with respect to Jail operations, Elwell's testimony as to the constant adherence to the code of silence, and the other evidence that Barnes himself embraced and enforced that code, a jury could permissibly find that the code of silence was a practice or custom that constituted the municipality's standard operating procedure. 71 Further, there was ample evidence to permit a rational juror to find that Sheriff Barnes directly encouraged the acts of retaliation against plaintiffs for exercise of their First Amendment rights. After Carlos testified at the trial of the indicted officers, Barnes told him, 'You're gonna get yours,' and 'We're gonna get []ya' (Carlos Dep. at 58). After viewing the videotape of the anonymous officer who spoke out about the inmate-abuse incident and suspecting that the officer was Jeffes, Barnes had promptly sought scientific confirmation of his suspicion and had invited other correction officers--including at least two who were officers alleged to have participated in the inmate abuse--to hear the enhancement clarifying that the officer who spoke out was Jeffes. The harassment, intimidation, and endangerment of Jeffes occurred largely in the wake of Barnes's confirmation and communication that the officer speaking out was Jeffes. The jury would be entitled to infer that Barnes's conduct was a direct cause of the harassment of plaintiffs. 72 Sheriff Barnes offered a contrary view as to his reason for seeking confirmation that the interviewed officer was Jeffes. He testified that he had sought to determine the officer's identity only because no one had ever told him there was any inmate abuse on April 29, 1994. (See, e.g., Barnes Dep. at 67 (nobody had ever filed a report); id. at 70 (I wanted to know because nobody had ever reported it, okay?).) The jury could credit this explanation. Or it could instead believe other evidence, such as the testimony of Carlos that he personally reported the incident to Barnes; or the testimony of correction officer O'Connor that he had discussed the abuse with Barnes and that Barnes characterized the guards' actions as 'great'; or the testimony of Lieutenant Monroe that at least one of the abusive incidents was actually observed by Sheriff Barnes, and indeed, observed with a smile. Crediting the testimony of these officers, as well as other evidence, the jury would be entitled to infer that Barnes's action in inviting some or all of the accused officers to hear the enhanced tape confirming that the accusing officer was Jeffes was designed to and did directly lead to the harassment of Jeffes. 73 There is perhaps less evidence that Barnes directly contributed to the harassment of Keenan. Nonetheless, a jury could permissibly find that the harassment, intimidation, and endangerment of all of the plaintiffs was at least indirectly caused by Barnes, both through his acquiescence in that misconduct and through his deliberate indifference to the need to train his staff not to retaliate against a fellow worker for exercising his First Amendment rights and assisting governmental investigation of alleged wrongdoing. 74 Barnes's acquiescence in the harassment of plaintiffs for exercising their First Amendment rights could be inferred from the evidence discussed above as to the existence of the code of silence, adherence to which was a routine factor in the Jail's operation, and as to Barnes's insistence on adherence to that code. Also supporting the inference of acquiescence was the evidence that the harassment of plaintiffs and other officers who had spoken out or cooperated in the federal investigation was widespread and conspicuous. That evidence included deposition testimony that some form of harassment or intimidation was visited upon at least nine officers; that the harassment at the Jail occurred on a daily basis; that the visual depictions of officers as rats were posted everywhere and anywhere around the Jail; that the insults and rat noises over the radio continued for years; and that complaints of the harassment were made to Barnes and other supervisors. 75 Further, given the evidence that the harassing and intimidating misconduct was open and notorious and was avowedly retaliatory against officers for exercising their First Amendment rights and assisting governmental investigation into alleged wrongdoing, the jury could infer that Barnes had deliberately not trained his staff to avoid infringing those rights notwithstanding that the need for such training was obvious. In further support of that inference, there was evidence from Barnes himself that in the past, when the concern was not the code of silence, he had taken prompt action to put an end to harassment and disparagement. He testified that in 1992, he had sent his staff members two communications disapproving of disparaging and demeaning writings posted or scrawled on the walls. One instance involved writings depicting part-time employees as scabs; the other involved commentary on sexual orientation. In those instances, Barnes ordered that the posters be removed and that the walls bearing writing be scrubbed or painted; he sent memoranda dated September 15, 1992, and October 29, 1992, stating that such acts would not be tolerated. But between October 29, 1992, and mid-1996, which included most of the period in which these plaintiffs and at least six other officers were harassed, intimidated, and threatened with bodily harm for breaching the code of silence, Barnes took no steps to halt those acts and sent no memoranda regarding proper conduct (see, e.g., Barnes Dep. at 19). 76 In sum, a jury could permissibly find that the code of silence was part of Barnes's standard operating procedure at the Jail and that his affirmative actions were a direct cause of the violations of plaintiffs' First Amendment rights. In light of the scope, duration, openness, and pervasiveness of the retaliation against officers who broke the code of silence, the jury could find that Barnes was well aware of the existence and thrust of those acts of retaliation. Based on his failure to make any effort to forestall, halt, or redress the retaliatory conduct, the jury could well find that, even if Barnes did not directly cause the retaliation, he either acquiesced in it or was deliberately indifferent to the reprisals against officers who exercised their First Amendment rights in breach of the code of silence. 77 Given our conclusion as a matter of law that Barnes was the County's final policymaker with respect to the conduct of his staff members toward one another in this area, any of these findings would suffice for the imposition of liability on the County.