Opinion ID: 741085
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: James A. Collins

Text: 65 A supervisor cannot be held liable under section 1983 on the basis of respondeat superior. Monell v. Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 694 n. 58, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2037, n. 58, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Rather, the misconduct of the subordinate must be affirmatively linked to the action or inaction of the supervisor. In Doe v. Taylor Independent School District, 15 F.3d 443, 453 (5th Cir.1994) (en banc), cert. denied sub nom, Lankford v. Doe, 513 U.S. 815, 115 S.Ct. 70, 130 L.Ed.2d 25 (1994), this court noted the close relationship between the elements of municipal liability and an individual supervisor's liability: 66 The legal elements of an individual's supervisory liability and a political subdivision's liability, however, are similar enough that the same standards of fault and causation should govern. A municipality, with its broad obligation to supervise all of its employees, is liable under § 1983 if it supervises its employees in a manner that manifests deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of citizens. We see no principled reason why an individual to whom the municipality has delegated responsibility to directly supervise the employee should not be held liable under the same standard. 67 15 F.3d at 453. The court concluded that a supervisory official may be liable under section 1983 if that official, by action or inaction, demonstrates a deliberate indifference to a plaintiff's constitutionally protected rights. Id. at 454. 68 Although the deliberate indifference standard arose from a case alleging a violation of a substantive due process right, the standard applies to other underlying constitutional violations as well. Id., n. 8. The Supreme Court has recently reaffirmed that  'deliberate indifference' is a stringent standard of fault, requiring proof that a municipal actor disregarded a known or obvious consequence of his action. Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County, Oklahoma, v. Brown, --- U.S. ----, ----, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 1391, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997); 25 see also, Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 1977, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994)(deliberate indifference is more than more blameworthy than negligence, but less than acts or omissions for the very purpose of causing harm or with knowledge that harm will result). The deliberate indifference standard permits courts to separate omissions that amount to an intentional choice from those that are merely unintentionally negligent oversight[s]. Gonzalez v. Ysleta Independent School District, 996 F.2d 745, 756 (5th Cir.1993), quoting Rhyne v. Henderson County, 973 F.2d 386, 392 (5th Cir.1992). 69 Appellees assert that because Collins knew of the numerous, similar complaints of sexual harassment against Strain, and failed to stop the harassment, Collins was deliberately indifferent to appellees' constitutional rights. Collins asserts that his receipt of the EEO investigative reports cannot as a matter of law show that he acted with deliberate indifference to appellees' rights, because the EEO office conducted independent investigations and concluded that none of the complaints was sustainable. 70 In Doe v. Taylor Independent School District, this court considered whether a high school principal and superintendent of schools were shielded by qualified immunity from the claims of a high school student who had been sexually molested by a teacher. This court found that the school principal did not have qualified immunity for his failure to supervise the teacher, resulting in the child's molestation. However, the superintendent of schools was immune. 71 When the superintendent heard of the teacher's potential misconduct, he instructed the principal, the teacher's direct supervisor, to speak to the teacher. Several months later, the superintendent was informed that the teacher had given alcohol to students at an event and behaved inappropriately with Doe. The superintendent contacted the parents of one of the allegedly misbehaving students to discuss the report and was assured that their child had not even attended the event. After intimately inscribed photographs came to light, Doe's parents arranged to meet with the superintendent. At that meeting, the superintendent acknowledged his awareness of the rumors about the teacher and Doe; talked to Doe; and warned the teacher to stay away from Doe. The court concluded that the superintendent had notice of a pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior. However, the superintendent was not deliberately indifferent to that knowledge. He took some steps: instructing the principal to talk to the teacher; checking on an incident reported to him; and, later meeting with the principal and teacher. His actions were ineffective, but not deliberately indifferent. 15 F.3d at 458. 72 Collins served as the director of the TDCJ-ID from January 1990 to April 1994. As director, Collins oversaw 108 prison units and approximately 38,000 employees. Each prison unit organizes the line of authority over its security personnel after a military chain of command: wardens, assistant wardens, majors, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and correctional officers, in descending hierarchical order. Each level of subordinate employee reports to the next level up the chain of command. As director, Collins had in place a written, formal system to receive and investigate employee complaints of discrimination and harassment based on sex and a written policy against such discrimination and harassment. 26 73 Collins asserts in his affidavit that he did not personally see the plaintiffs' EEO complaints, but rather that his office staff would review the complaints for him. Because this court has jurisdiction only to review the questions of law posed by the district court's denial of summary judgment based on the defense of qualified immunity, this court will ignore the disputes of fact, take those facts assumed by the district court in a light most favorable to [plaintiffs], and determine whether those facts establish an exception to the qualified immunity defense. Nerren, 86 F.3d at 472; Cantu, 77 F.3d at 805. In that light, the record discloses that Collins received the EEO office investigative reports into the complaints made by Hull, Southard, Pankey, Litton, Leis, Minter, Foster, Maimbourg, Nunn, Toland, Palmer, and Fleming. Collins initialed the forwarding letters for the EEO's reports into the complaints filed by Maimbourg, Palmer, Foster, and Fleming, and signed the formal response for the third stage of the grievance process, rejecting the complaints filed by Hull, Southard, Litton, Leis, and Minter. Like the superintendent in Doe, Collins was aware of the complaints of inappropriate behavior. Collins also knew that the EEO office investigated each complaint and found it lacking. The issue is whether Collins's knowledge of the allegations and of the EEO's investigation reports rejecting those allegations creates a fact issue as to deliberate indifference. 74 In Gonzalez v. Ysleta Independent School Dist., 996 F.2d 745 (5th Cir.1993), 27 this court found that a school district board of trustees was immune from liability for a teacher's molestation of a student. Id. at 762. When the board was informed of two incidents of the teacher's inappropriate behavior, the board transferred the teacher. After the transfer, the teacher molested a first grader. Id. at 746-49. This court determined that the board of trustees had not acted with deliberate indifference in failing to terminate the teacher after the first two complaints, because, although the board's decision to transfer was negligent and inconsistent with the district's handling of other cases of suspected sexual abuse, the board had not turned a blind eye to the complaints, but had ordered an investigation and followed the recommendation based on that investigation. Id. In this case, Collins knew that the EEO office independently investigated each complaint and he followed the conclusions of the EEO office. 75 Plaintiffs rely on Gutierrez-Rodriguez v. Cartagena, 882 F.2d 553 (1st Cir.1989), to argue that there is a triable issue as to whether Collins knew that the EEO investigations were wholly inadequate. In Cartagena, a group of police officers from the narcotics division of the Puerto Rico police department shot the plaintiff. The plaintiff sued the police officers, the director of the narcotics division, and the superintendent of police, under section 1983. The superintendent relied on internal investigations rejecting use of force and other complaints against the officers, and asserted immunity. The First Circuit upheld the jury's verdict against the police superintendent because a reasonable jury could have found callous indifference to the plaintiff's rights. The court found that the investigations on which the superintendent relied in deciding not to take action against the police officer, despite a large number of similar complaints, had glaring inadequacies. Officers who were the subject of an internal investigation could refuse to testify or give a statement to investigating officers; witnesses had to come to the station house to give sworn written statements; when a citizen withdrew his complaint, the internal investigation ended, which caused officers to intimidate witnesses; and immediate supervisors were not involved. Id. at 565-66. Based on these findings, the court concluded that: 76 [b]oth [the] failure to identify and take remedial action concerning [the officer] and his employment of a disciplinary system that was grossly deficient in a number of significant areas made it highly likely that the police officers under his command would engage in conduct that would deprive the citizens of Puerto Rico of their constitutional rights. 77 Id. at 566. 78 In this case, by contrast, the record does not disclose that the TDCJ EEO office procedures, as implemented in the reports provided to Collins, showed the same systemic glaring inadequacies that made the counterpart in Gutierrez-Rodriguez a source of supervisory liability rather than a qualified immunity shield. 28 79 In Gutierrez-Rodriguez, the investigative process was an integral part of the police department. In this case, by contrast, the EEO office was independent of other TDCJ departments. The grievance process required the accused officer to respond to the complaints, allowed witnesses to give information through informal interviews, and actively involved supervisors. The grievance procedures encouraged employees to give interviews and statements to investigators; provided that an employee's service as a witness was official business, for which the employee was to be released on paid time during working hours; and provided protection against reprisals for such service. 80 The EEO investigative reports that Collins received bore the earmarks of a detailed investigation. The reports contained detailed summaries of each employee's allegations against Strain, providing specific information on the dates and circumstances of the alleged harassment and retaliation. The reports listed the witnesses interviewed; 29 the results of those interviews; and the contents of documents and records reviewed. Each report explained why, although some of the allegations made by some of the grievants were supported, the EEO office rejected the allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. The reports did not hide the fact that Strain had received a number of similar complaints from female correctional officers and clerks. Instead, the reports explained why, despite the number of complaints, the EEO was unable to sustain the allegations. 81 Moreover, unlike the police chief in Cartagena, and like the superintendent in Doe v. Taylor Independent School District, Collins did not simply ignore the complaints and dismiss the charges. Instead, Collins took some steps, asking the regional director and the director of personnel to investigate some questions raised by the EEO investigation reports. Even if those steps were ineffectual, they do not demonstrate deliberate indifference. 82 The evidence does not raise a fact issue that Collins subjectively knew Strain was sexually harassing female employees or knew that the EEO office's procedures for investigation into such complaints were glaringly inadequate. Collins did not act with deliberate indifference to plaintiffs' federally protected rights. He is entitled to qualified immunity.