Opinion ID: 76148
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Supervisory Liability of Tighe, St. Claire, Watson, and Law

Text: 32 It is well established in this Circuit that supervisory officials are not liable under § 1983 for the unconstitutional acts of their subordinates on the basis of respondeat superior or vicarious liability. Hartley v. Parnell, 193 F.3d 1263, 1269 (11th Cir.1999) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1234 (concluding supervisory officials are not liable on the basis of respondeat superior or vicarious liability). Instead, supervisory liability under § 1983 occurs either when the supervisor personally participates in the alleged unconstitutional conduct or when there is a causal connection between the actions of a supervising official and the alleged constitutional deprivation. Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1234; Brown v. Crawford, 906 F.2d 667, 671 (11th Cir.1990). The necessary causal connection can be established when a history of widespread abuse puts the responsible supervisor on notice of the need to correct the alleged deprivation, and he fails to do so. Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1234 (quoting Braddy v. Fla. Dept. of Labor & Employment, 133 F.3d 797, 802 (11th Cir.1998)); Brown, 906 F.2d at 671. Alternatively, the causal connection may be established when a supervisor's `custom or policy ... result[s] in deliberate indifference to constitutional rights' or when facts support an inference that the supervisor directed the subordinates to act unlawfully or knew that the subordinates would act unlawfully and failed to stop them from doing so. Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1235 (quoting Rivas v. Freeman, 940 F.2d 1491, 1495 (11th Cir.1991)); Hartley, 193 F.3d at 1263; see also Post v. City of Ft. Lauderdale, 7 F.3d 1552, 1560-61 (11th Cir.1993). The standard by which a supervisor is held liable in [his] individual capacity for the actions of a subordinate is extremely rigorous. Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1234 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 33 The plaintiffs do not allege that defendants Tighe, St. Claire, Watson, and Law personally participated in the alleged unconstitutional conduct which led to Cottone's death. Instead, the plaintiffs allege that there is a causal connection between these defendants and Cottone's death based on the defendants' failure to train and to supervise guards D'Elia and Williams. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants were on notice of the widespread unconstitutional conduct at the Broward County Jail through the consent decree and that the defendants failed to rectify such conduct. 34 The consent decree generally addresses unconstitutional practices at the Broward County Jail with respect to conditions of confinement, specifically the classification, separation, housing, and monitoring of inmates. In broad terms, the consent decree requires that assessment and classification of inmates be ongoing, that inmates continuously be assessed and classified based on an inmate's social, legal, and ... medical history, and that each Broward County detention facility have its own classification officer. The consent decree also requires prison officials to separate and to supervise inmates closely, particularly those who present a threat to the staff, other inmates, or themselves. With respect to monitoring these types of inmates, the consent decree requires regular, documented sight checks ... at intervals not to exceed 15 minutes. Other than a time interval, however, the consent decree does not specify any details as to how such monitoring should be performed. 35 The problem for the plaintiffs here is that the allegations in the amended complaint itself show that the supervisors complied with the relevant terms of the consent decree. According to the amended complaint, Broward County Jail officials, including Dr. Maurice Waldman, 6 assessed Charles and classified him as a mentally ill inmate. As part of the ongoing inmate assessment procedures in place, Dr. Waldman reduced Charles's psychotropic medication. Based on the assessment and classification procedures in place, Charles was transferred to separate housing for mentally ill inmates in Unit 1 of the North Broward Detention Center. Furthermore, there were surveillance cameras installed that allowed the guards to monitor continuously the inmates housed in Unit 1. Indeed, two guards, D'Elia and Williams, specifically were assigned to monitor the inmates in Unit 1. By its own allegations, the amended complaint itself acknowledges that the supervisors put in place the necessary procedures to abide by the consent decree. Thus, the consent decree itself does not provide notice to establish a causal connection between the supervisors and Cottone's death. 36 Furthermore, the plaintiffs do not allege any specific facts at all connecting the supervisors to D'Elia's and Williams's failure to monitor the inmates in Unit 1. There is no allegation that supervisors directed the subordinate guards not to monitor inmates or to act unlawfully. The amended complaint also does not make any allegations that the supervisors had any knowledge of D'Elia's and Williams's failure to monitor inmates or that D'Elia and Williams had any past history, or even one prior incident, of failing to monitor inmates or of watching computer games. The supervisors were not on any notice of D'Elia's and Williams's unconstitutional conduct so as to put the supervisors on notice of the need to correct or to stop the conduct of D'Elia and Williams by further training or supervision. Thus, the plaintiffs fail to establish the necessary causal connection between the supervisors and the unconstitutional conduct in issue for supervisory liability to be imposed. See Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1236 (concluding that in the absence of a causal connection between the supervisors and the alleged unconstitutional conduct, there is no basis for supervisory liability). 37 The plaintiffs also do not allege any affirmative custom or policy implemented by the supervisory defendants that played a role in Cottone's death. See id. Nor do they allege that the supervisors instructed D'Elia and Williams to commit constitutional violations. See id. As a result, the amended complaint does not allege the causal connection required to impose supervisory liability against these defendants. 7 38 Thus, the plaintiffs have failed to allege that defendants Tighe, St. Claire, Watson, and Law committed a constitutional violation. 8 Because the amended complaint fails to allege a constitutional violation committed by the supervisory defendants, we need not reach the clearly established law prong of the qualified immunity inquiry with respect to supervisory liability. See Vinyard, 311 F.3d at 1346 (If a constitutional right would have been violated under the plaintiff's version of the facts, the next, sequential step is to ask whether the right was clearly established.) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) (emphasis added). Accordingly, we conclude that defendants Tighe, St. Claire, Watson, and Law are entitled to qualified immunity and that the district court erred in failing to grant these defendants' Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss.