Opinion ID: 792823
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Municipal Liability Claim Against the School District

Text: 40 Finally, McQueen argues that the School District is liable under a theory of municipal liability, alleging that it failed to supervise students, failed to expel Smith, and failed to train teachers to properly handle violent students. The district court rejected this claim. 41 In Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), the Supreme Court conclude[d] that a municipality cannot be held liable solely because it employs a tortfeasor — or, in other words, a municipality cannot be held liable under § 1983 on a respondeat superior theory. Id. at 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018. Monell requires that in order [t]o establish municipal liability pursuant to § 1983, a plaintiff must allege an unconstitutional action that `implements or executes a policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision officially adopted and promulgated by that body's officers' or a `constitutional deprivation[] visited pursuant to governmental custom even though such a custom has not received formal approval through the body's official decisionmaking channels.' Shamaeizadeh v. Cunigan, 338 F.3d 535, 556 (6th Cir. 2003) (quoting Monell, 436 U.S. at 690-91, 98 S.Ct. 2018 (1978)), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 1041, 124 S.Ct. 2159, 158 L.Ed.2d 729 (2004). 42 As with supervisory liability, [w]here ... a municipality's liability is alleged on the basis of the unconstitutional actions of its employees, it is necessary to show that the employees inflicted a constitutional harm. Ewolski, 287 F.3d at 516 (citing City of Los Angeles v. Heller, 475 U.S. 796, 799, 106 S.Ct. 1571, 89 L.Ed.2d 806 (1986)). As discussed above, neither Judd nor Hughes inflicted a constitutional harm upon Doe. Because the [School District] can only be held liable if there is a showing of liability on the part of its officials, the determination that the [School District's] officials did not violate the plaintiff['s] constitutional rights resolves the claim against the [School District] as well. Bukowski, 326 F.3d at 712-13 (citing Scott v. Clay County, 205 F.3d 867, 879 (6th Cir. 2000), for the proposition that the `conclusion that no officer-defendant had deprived the plaintiff of any constitutional right a fortiori defeats the claim against the County as well').