Opinion ID: 1806358
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Analysis of claims against the Lee County Sheriffs Department and against the deputies in their official capacities.

Text: ¶ 34. In addition to suing the deputies individually, Williams sued them in their official capacities, and he sued the Lee County Sheriffs Department. A governmental entity is only liable under § 1983 only for injuries caused by a municipal policy or custom. Board of County Com's v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997). [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. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2037, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Accord, Bankston v. Pass Road Tire Ctr., Inc., 611 So.2d 998, 1009 (Miss.1992). A § 1983 plaintiff must show a direct causal link between the municipal action and the deprivation of a civil right. Bryan County, 117 S.Ct. at 1389. There has been absolutely no showing of any official policy of Lee County which led to any constitutional deprivation. See Campbell v. City of San Antonio, 43 F.3d 973, 977 (5th Cir. 1995) (single incident of arrest based on mistaken identity insufficient to show official policy). Summary judgment as to the Lee County Sheriffs Department and the officers in their official capacities was proper. This assignment of error is without merit.