Opinion ID: 1704806
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendants Sued In Their Official Capacities.

Text: Hafner sued Lynne Delano as the Secretary of Department, Walter Leapley as the Warden of the South Dakota Penitentiary and Edgar Ligtenberg as an Associate Warden. Again, clear and binding precedent establishes that state officials sued in their official capacities are not persons within the ambit of § 1983. The United States Supreme Court held: [A] suit against a state official in his or her official capacity is not a suit against the official but rather is a suit against the official's office. As such, it is no different from a suit against the State itself. We see no reason to adopt a different rule in the present context, particularly when such a rule would allow petitioner to circumvent congressional intent by a mere pleading device. We hold that neither the State nor its officials acting in their official capacities are persons under § 1983. Will, 491 U.S. at 71, 109 S.Ct. at 2312, 105 L.Ed.2d at 58 (citations omitted); Zar v. S.D. Bd. of Examiners of Psychologists, 976 F.2d 459, 464 (8th Cir.1992) (to the extent that the individual defendants were sued in their official capacities and that the Board itself was sued, the defendants are not persons with the meaning of § 1983). Insofar as Delano, Leapley, and Ligtenberg were sued in their official capacities, they were entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.