Opinion ID: 160748
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Summary Judgment For City of Laramie

Text: 23 The district court found sufficient evidence to deny the City of Laramie's Motion for Summary Judgment as to the plaintiff's claim of its failure to train adequately the individual officers. 24 Initially, we note that while the ruling denying summary judgment to the City is not independently appealable, we may exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction under Swint v. Chambers County Commission. 28 The Swint court held that pendent appellate jurisdiction allows review of an otherwise non-appealable decision that is inextricably intertwined with an appealable decision. 29 That situation exists here because plaintiff's claim of inadequate training relates directly to the objective reasonableness of the officers' conduct, the issue involved in the appealable order. We therefore may consider whether the district court erred in denying the City's motion. 25 We may grant summary judgment if the pleadings on file, 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. 30 There is no genuine issue of material fact if, based on the evidence in the record, no reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party. 31 26 Generally, the inadequacy of police training may serve as the basis for § 1983 liability only where the failure to train amounts to deliberate indifference to the rights of persons with whom the police come into contact. 32 With respect to a showing of deliberate indifference, the district court determined that material issues of fact precluded summary judgment. The court cited evidence that the City failed to train its officers on the use of hobble restraints and that the City put such restraints in its police cars. The court also noted that high ranking officials were aware of positional asphyxia attributable to hobble restraints and of a doctor's report stating that deaths in police custody with hog-tie restraint[s] have been reported in medical literature a number of times. The district court found that genuine issues of material fact were in dispute. The denial of summary judgment to the City therefore was appropriate. 27 The appealed rulings therefore are REVERSED in part and AFFIRMED in part consistent herewith.