Opinion ID: 1155949
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: King County, King County Health Department, King County Sheriff, King County Detoxification Center

Text: [7, 8] Unlike the State and its agencies, municipalities and other local governmental entities are persons within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Monell v. Department of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 56 L.Ed.2d 611, 98 S.Ct. 2018 (1978). Thus, local governmental entities, such as the King County entity defendants here, may be subject to liability under § 1983 but only when the action that is alleged to be unconstitutional implements or executes a policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision officially adopted and promulgated by that body's officers or when constitutional deprivations [are] visited pursuant to governmental `custom' even though such a custom has not received formal approval through the body's official decisionmaking channels. Monell, at 690-91. Respondeat superior may not be the basis for liability: [A] local government may not be sued under § 1983 for an injury inflicted solely by its employees or agents. Instead, it is when execution of a government's policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury that the government as an entity is responsible under § 1983. Monell v. Department of Social Servs., supra at 694. Plaintiffs generally allege that official policies or customs of King County and its agencies caused the deprivation of their civil rights. Because the trial court dismissed plaintiffs' § 1983 claims against King County and its agencies on summary judgment, we will engage in the same inquiry as the trial court. Wendle v. Farrow, 102 Wn.2d 380, 383, 686 P.2d 480 (1984). The motion for summary judgment should not be granted unless the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c). Hartley v. State, 103 Wn.2d 768, 774, 698 P.2d 77 (1985). In making this determination, all evidence and inferences therefrom are to be considered in favor of the nonmoving party. Wilson v. Steinbach, 98 Wn.2d 434, 656 P.2d 1030 (1982). The poorly developed record in this case is bereft of any evidence of a policy or custom established and maintained by King County and its agencies which resulted in the alleged constitutional deprivations. At best, the record permits an inference that plaintiffs' constitutional rights may have been violated as a result of the alleged wrongful actions of various individual King County employees in attempting to carry out the provisions of RCW 70.96A.120. However, under Monell v. Department of Social Servs., supra , King County or its agencies cannot be held liable on the basis of respondeat superior for the unconstitutional actions of its employees. Absent a showing that the allegedly unconstitutional actions executed county policy or custom, the County cannot be subject to § 1983 liability under Monell. This does not mean, however, as defendants allege, that the County is shielded from § 1983 liability merely because it is implementing a facially constitutional state statute. Cf. Brower v. Wells, 103 Wn.2d 96, 690 P.2d 1144 (1984) (Yakima held liable under § 1983 for its actions pursuant to an unconstitutional state statute). If in implementing RCW 70.96A, the County has promulgated unconstitutional policies or customs which are the moving force behind the alleged deprivations  or in other words, if the statute is unconstitutionally applied pursuant to county policy or custom  then the County cannot escape § 1983 liability. However, no evidence of such unconstitutional policies or customs can be found anywhere in the record. Plaintiffs' naked assertions that such policies do exist are not sufficient to avoid summary judgment. See Meissner v. Simpson Timber Co., 69 Wn.2d 949, 955, 421 P.2d 674 (1966). As we recognized in Reed v. Streib, 65 Wn.2d 700, 707, 399 P.2d 338 (1965), [t]he whole purpose of summary judgment procedure would be defeated if a case could be forced to trial by a mere assertion that an issue exists without any showing of evidence. Plaintiffs point to evidence in the record indicating that the King County Detoxification Center has standard procedures for handling all persons admitted to it. However, there are no allegations or suggestions that these procedures are unconstitutional or that they violated plaintiffs' constitutional rights. As the United States Supreme Court made clear in Polk Cy. v. Dodson, 454 U.S. 312, 325, 70 L.Ed.2d 509, 102 S.Ct. 445 (1981), a local government is liable under § 1983 only for deprivations caused by unconstitutional policies or customs. See also Monell v. Department of Social Servs., supra (city liability under § 1983 premised on an unconstitutional city policy compelling women to take unpaid pregnancy leaves); Owen v. Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 63 L.Ed.2d 673, 100 S.Ct. 1398, reh'g denied, 446 U.S. 993, 64 L.Ed.2d 850, 100 S.Ct. 2979 (1980) (city liability premised on its unconstitutional conduct in connection with dismissal of chief of police). Plaintiffs also contend that the King County Sheriff's failure to supervise and train its officers in carrying out the requirements of RCW 70.96A is a policy which contributed to the alleged violations of plaintiffs' constitutional rights. A general allegation of administrative negligence fails to state a constitutional claim cognizable under § 1983. Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 370-77, 46 L.Ed.2d 561, 96 S.Ct. 598 (1976). However, as plaintiffs point out, some courts have held that a local governmental entity may be subject to liability under § 1983 when the failure to supervise or lack of training is such that it amounts to gross negligence or deliberate indifference to the deprivation of plaintiffs' constitutional rights. See, e.g., Herrera v. Valentine, 653 F.2d 1220, 1224 (8th Cir.1981); Owens v. Haas, 601 F.2d 1242, 1246 (2d Cir.1979). There generally must be a showing of widespread abuse or a pervasive pattern of police misconduct to give rise to liability under § 1983 for failure to supervise. Wellington v. Daniels, 717 F.2d 932, 936 (4th Cir.1983). In some cases, however, a single, unusually egregious incident is found to be sufficiently out of the ordinary to create an inference of inadequate training or supervision amounting to gross negligence. See, e.g., Martini v. Russell, 582 F. Supp. 136, 142 (C.D. Cal. 1984). Even under this expansive reading of Monell, there is nothing in the record before us to support an inference of gross negligence in the training or supervision of King County police officers. The only evidence of gross negligence posited by plaintiffs is the fact that on separate occasions, two of the plaintiffs were taken into protective custody pursuant to RCW 70.96A.120 and transported to the Detoxification Center allegedly because they interfered with a police investigation and not because they appeared to be intoxicated. This at most raises an inference that the officers failed to comply with the requirements of RCW 70.96A.120. It neither suggests a pervasive pattern of police misconduct nor is it the kind of unusually egregious incident sufficient to raise an inference of inadequate training or supervision amounting to gross negligence. If, as plaintiffs allege, their constitutional rights were violated as a result of the wrongful actions of certain King County employees in carrying out the provisions of RCW 70.96A, their remedy under § 1983 for such deprivations must be against those individuals who committed the acts. However, where as here, there is no evidence that official policies or customs of King County or its agencies are responsible for the alleged deprivations, the trial court properly dismissed the 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims against these defendants.