Opinion ID: 558769
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Liability of Greer County and City of Mangum under Section 1983

Text: 7 It is well established that a county or municipality may be held liable under section 1983 only when the constitutional deprivation at issue was undertaken pursuant to a custom or policy of a county or municipality and not simply on the basis of respondeat superior. See City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 125 n. 2 (1988); Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 478-80 (1986). In this case, the district court, in granting summary judgment in favor of Greer County and the City of Mangum on plaintiff's section 1983 claim, held that plaintiff failed to prove that any act or omission with respect to decedent was caused by the execution of some policy or custom of Greer County or the City of Mangum. 8 On appeal, plaintiff has failed to even demonstrate some recognition of any theory of county or municipal liability under section 1983 let alone articulate some arguable basis for undoing the district court's determination. Specifically, plaintiff has not identified any actions by lawmakers for Greer County or the City of Mangum which sanctioned or authorized the manner in which decedent was incarcerated in the city-county jail. Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 480 (recovery from a municipality is limited to acts that are, properly speaking, acts 'of the municipality'--that is, acts which the municipality has officially sanctioned or ordered.). Furthermore, plaintiff has not demonstrated that the injuries to decedent were the result of some pervasive county or city custom. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 127 (to prove section 1983 liability based on custom, plaintiff must establish a widespread practice that, although not authorized by written law or express municipal policy, it is so permanent and well settled as to constitute custom or usage with the force of law.). 9 In her appellate brief, plaintiff describes the sheriff and the chief of police as policymakers. See Brief of Appellant, pp. 5-6. By characterizing the sheriff and the chief of police in such a manner, plaintiff has inadvertently raised the individual policymaker route to municipal liability which has been the subject of the two recent Supreme Court decisions. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 123; Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 481-84. In these cases, the Court concluded that municipal liability may be imposed for a decision or action of a municipal policymaker, where that decisionmaker possesses final authority to establish municipal policy with respect to the action ordered. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 127; Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 481-84. In this case, however, even assuming that the sheriff and the chief of police had final policymaking authority concerning the manner in which people were confined at the city-county jail, plaintiff has failed to identify an existing policy, proclamation, or edict attributable to the sheriff or chief of police, the implementation of which resulted in decedent's injuries. The absence of such a link between decedent's injuries and any acts or decisions of the sheriff or the chief of police precludes the imposition of municipal liability based on final policymaking authority. Cf. City of Okla. City v. Tuttle, 471 U.S. 808, 823 (1985) (there must be an affirmative link between the policy and a particular constitutional violation alleged). 10