Opinion ID: 628036
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Official-Capacity Claim

Text: 56 The district court ruled that Frank had withdrawn her claim against Relin in his official capacity, and it dismissed that claim chiefly on that basis, noting its view also that Frank had presented no evidence of a municipal policy leading to her firing. We conclude that the court should not have dismissed the official-capacity claim for three reasons: (1) the memorandum on which the court relied for its conclusion that Frank had withdrawn this claim displayed a doctrinal confusion that should not have been automatically equated with a withdrawal of the claim; (2) the court did not explore the role of a district attorney as policymaker in the administration of his office; and (3) the court summarily dismissed Frank's official-capacity claim in its entirety, notwithstanding the fact that Relin had sought summary dismissal of that claim only to the extent that it requested money damages.
57 The Frank memorandum on which the district court relied in concluding that she had withdrawn her official-capacity claim was submitted in response to Relin's motion to dismiss her monetary claims. Relin's motion contended--correctly, as we discuss below--that a suit against him for monetary relief in his official capacity constituted, in effect, a suit against the County and that the principles governing municipal liability applied. Frank's response to this argument was, in pertinent part, as follows: 58 Defendant's motion for summary judgment must be denied because the motion misconstrues applicable law regarding the impact of defendant's decision-making authority. Defendant's motion relies on Supreme Court cases that limit a municipality's [emphasis in original] liability for the actions of a municipal official. In the instant case, however, plaintiff has not sued any municipality, but has only sued the defendant Relin, in his individual and official capacities.... 59 .... 60 [Monell and its progeny] would raise difficult issues in the context of the present case, had plaintiff elected to sue the County of Monroe. In that instance, the court would have been called upon to determine whether District Attorney Relin was a municipal policy maker, and whether the particular decision made by Relin with respect to terminating plaintiff's employment represented official County policy. But it is unnecessary to decide these difficult issues in the instant case because of this simple fact: Plaintiff has not sued the municipality. She has not named the County of Monroe as a party defendant. Instead, plaintiff has sued only defendant Howard R. Relin, who is now named in his individual and official capacities. Accordingly, the issues raised by Monell ... are simply inapposite to the instant case. 61 Defendant's own argument in support of the instant motion for summary judgment seems to acknowledge the flaw in his reasoning. Defendant argues that he is required to comply with New York Civil Service Law and the rules and policies of the Monroe County Civil Service Commission. This contention is beside the point, because plaintiff's employment was not governed by New York Civil Service Law; at no time was her position a civil service position.... Furthermore, after making this argument, defendant states that Monroe County cannot be held liable for Relin's actions in matters of employment and personnel administration including his decision to [terminate plaintiff]. ... Without conceding the validity of this argument, plaintiff simply notes that she is not seeking to hold the County of Monroe liable for Relin's actions; rather, she is simply seeking to hold the defendant liable, in his official and individual capacities. 62 (Frank Summary Judgment Memorandum at 2-4 (emphasis added, except where indicated).) The district court construed these statements as an admission that she does not wish to sue Monroe County and as a withdrawal of her claim against defendant in his official capacity. 1992 Decision at 9. 63 Frank's belief that an official-capacity suit against an individual is not in effect a suit against the governmental entity of which he is an official was, of course, a misconception. [T]he real party in interest in an official-capacity suit is the governmental entity and not the named official.... Hafer v. Melo, --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 358, 361, 116 L.Ed.2d 301 (1991). Thus, an official-capacity suit is, in all respects other than name, to be treated as a suit against the entity. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 166, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3105, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985). Consequently, Frank's repeated statements that she was not suing the County and was not seeking to hold it liable for Relin's actions were fallacious in light of her repeated statements that she sought to recover from Relin in his official capacity. 64 Such confusion is not uncommon, however, see, e.g., Gan v. City of New York, 996 F.2d at 529-30, and in order to avoid disadvantaging a party with a potentially viable claim solely on account of counsel's misconceptions, courts afford plaintiffs more leeway than usual with respect to the characterizations of their Sec. 1983 claims against government officials. For example, when the face of a complaint fails to state clearly whether a government official is being sued in his official capacity, or his individual capacity, or both, courts look to  '[t]he course of proceedings'  to determine the nature of the liability to be imposed. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. at 167 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. at 3106 n. 14 (quoting Brandon v. Holt, 469 U.S. 464, 469, 105 S.Ct. 873, 876, 83 L.Ed.2d 878 (1985)). Thus, a plaintiff who has not clearly identified in her complaint the capacity in which the defendant is sued should not have the complaint automatically construed as focusing on one capacity to the exclusion of the other. By the same token, a party who is unclear in argument as to the capacity in which the defendant can be pursued should not lightly be deemed to have withdrawn a claim that was expressly stated. When the party's defense of her stated claim bespeaks a doctrinal confusion, the court should not presume that there has been abandonment but should instead give her the opportunity either to abandon the claim or to pursue it with a corrected understanding as to what proof will be required to establish it. 65 In the present case, notwithstanding the doctrinal confusion displayed by Frank's memorandum, one fact stands out clearly: Frank, who had expressly asserted a claim against Relin in his official capacity, had no thought whatever that she was abandoning her claim against Relin in that capacity. While no doubt a party could, in defending against a motion for summary judgment, concede that a claim lacked merit, Frank's memorandum made no such concession. And whether Frank would actually have chosen to abandon her official-capacity claim if she had understood that the principles governing suits against a municipality were applicable to her official-capacity claim, see Hafer v. Melo, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 112 S.Ct. at 361-62 (Because the real party in interest in an official-capacity suit is the governmental entity and not the named official, 'the entity's policy or custom must have played a part in the violation of federal law.' ); see generally Gan v. City of New York, 996 F.2d at 529 is not answered in this record. 66 On remand, Frank should be given the opportunity to elect whether to pursue the official-capacity claim. 67
68 Nor do we agree with the district court's alternative view that Frank's official-capacity claim was dismissable because she had offered no evidence to support a claim that the alleged constitutional violation was a result of municipal policy or that defendant is a policy-making official. 1992 Decision at 9 n. 4. The district court's conclusion that there was no indication that Relin was a policymaking official within the meaning of Monell is, at best, premature. We have noted that generally, [w]here a district attorney acts as the manager of the district attorney's office, the district attorney acts as a county policymaker. Walker v. City of New York, 974 F.2d 293, 301 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1387, 122 L.Ed.2d 762 (1993); see also Gan v. City of New York, 996 F.2d at 536 (same). 69 Construed in her favor, the record indicates that Frank was hired by Relin's predecessor and was reappointed by Relin upon his election to district attorney. She was asked to resign by Relin after he had discussed the matter with the top administrative personnel in the district attorney's office (Feb. 13 Tr. at 5 (testimony of Sofia)). Plainly Relin undertook his actions as manager of the Monroe County District Attorney's Office. 70 Though Relin contended that he was not a policymaker because Frank's position was controlled by civil service laws and that his discretion to hire and fire was subject to review and regulation by the County Civil Service Commission, Frank denied that her position had ever been covered by civil service, and the district court declined to decide this issue. Nor has that issue, undeveloped below, been fully briefed on this appeal. We would note, however, that there is a good deal of tension between Relin's contention that Frank's position was governed by civil service and the proposition that he was permitted to fire her in the interest of improving office efficiency or morale. 71 In any event, the matter of whether Relin had final policymaking authority is a question of state law and is an issue to be decided by the court. See, e.g., Jett v. Dallas Independent School District, 491 U.S. 701, 737, 109 S.Ct. 2702, 2723, 105 L.Ed.2d 598 (1989). If Relin was not the final decisionmaker, of course, the decisionmaker cannot be held liable for Relin's actions on a theory of respondeat superior, though it can be held liable if it approved of or acquiesced in his actions. See generally id. at 736-38, 109 S.Ct. at 2722-24.
72 Finally, we note that Relin's motion for summary judgment with respect to the official capacity claim sought dismissal only with respect to Plaintiff's request for monetary damages. (Motion for Summary Judgment dated April 30, 1992, at 1.) In her amended complaint, Frank requested not only monetary relief but also reinstatement, relief that was equitable. Relin made no effort to present grounds to support summary dismissal of Frank's claim to the extent that it sought reinstatement. The court apparently viewed the reinstatement claim, sua sponte, as one to which Relin's defense of qualified immunity was applicable. However, such equitable relief could be obtained against Relin only in his official, not his individual, capacity; and a defense of qualified immunity may properly be raised only with respect to claims asserted against a defendant in his individual capacity. Qualified immunity is not a defense to a claim against a municipal official in his official capacity. See Hafer v. Melo, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 112 S.Ct. at 361-62; Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. at 167, 105 S.Ct. at 3105-06; Gan v. City of New York, 996 F.2d at 529. 73 Accordingly, the court's summary dismissal of the official-capacity claim to the extent that it sought equitable relief was error. 74