Opinion ID: 756185
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Grant of Summary Judgment to City of Duncan,

Text: Anderson, and Jennings 26 In a separate order, the district court granted summary judgment to the City of Duncan and defendants Jennings and Anderson. 2 The court held that plaintiff failed to adequately allege facts or offer evidence to support his claim that the police officers violated his constitutional rights in accord with a policy of the municipality. 27 In a § 1983 action, the City of Duncan may be held liable only for its own unconstitutional policies and not for the tortuous or unconstitutional actions of its employees. See Monell v. Department of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Here, the City may not be held liable under this theory absent an underlying constitutional violation by its officers. See Thompson, 58 F.3d at 1517. Therefore, because plaintiff failed to establish a constitutional deprivation, his claim against the City fails. 28 The district court granted summary judgment to Officer Jennings and Police Chief Anderson on plaintiff's claim that the defendants participating in the death of his dog violated his constitutional rights. We have held that [i]ndividual liability under § 1983 must be based on personal involvement in the alleged constitutional violation. Foote v. Spiegel, 118 F.3d 1416, 1423 (10th Cir.1997). Plaintiff does not claim that either defendant was present when the alleged constitutional violation occurred, but presumably included the two officers solely because of their supervisory role. A supervisor cannot be held liable under § 1983 on a respondeat superior theory. See Brown v. Reardon, 770 F.2d 896, 901 (10th Cir.1985). Plaintiff's claims against the officers in their supervisory capacities is the same as his claims against the City. See Thompson, 58 F.3d at 1517. Therefore, once again plaintiff's failure to show an underlying constitutional deprivation defeats his claims against the two officers, and summary judgment was appropriate. 29 Next, the district court granted summary judgment on plaintiff's claim that Officer Jennings violated his constitutional rights during a traffic stop and resulting citation for failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. The court construed plaintiff's claim as asserting that, because plaintiff was acquitted of the violation, the charge was concocted and for the purpose of harassing plaintiff. The court found that, although plaintiff claimed Officer Jennings was rude and raised his voice, he failed to establish that issuance of the citation was an abuse of Jennings' authority, or in violation of plaintiff's due process rights. R. Vol. II, Doc. 125 at 4-5. On appeal, plaintiff asserts that Officer Jennings, had followed, stopped, detained, (arrested) Appellant and his spouse, upon numerous occasions (sic). Appellant's Opening Br. at 19. He fails, however, to point this court to any error in the district court's findings or conclusions on this issue. Because we are not obligated to manufacture plaintiff's argument on appeal when he has failed to draw our attention to the error asserted, we consider the issue waived. See Hernandez v. Starbuck, 69 F.3d 1089, 1093 (10th Cir.1995); see also United States v. Rodriquez-Aguirre, 108 F.3d 1228, 1238 n. 8 (10th Cir.) (holding that appellant bears the burden of tying the relevant facts, supported by specific citations to the record, to his legal contentions), cert denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 132, 139 L.Ed.2d 81 (1997).