Opinion ID: 554955
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The City of Fort Lauderdale

Text: 24 It is well established that a municipality may be held liable under Sec. 1983 only when the deprivation at issue was undertaken pursuant to city custom or policy, and not simply on the basis of respondeat superior. See St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 125 n. 2, 108 S.Ct. 915, 925 n. 2, 99 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988); Pembaur v. Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 478-80, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 1297-98, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986); Monell, 436 U.S. at 694, 98 S.Ct. at 2037; Mandel v. Doe, 888 F.2d 783, 791 (11th Cir.1989). Thus, recovery from a municipality is limited to acts that are, properly speaking, acts 'of the municipality'--that is, acts which the municipality has officially sanctioned or ordered. Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 480, 106 S.Ct. at 1298, quoted in Mandel, 888 F.2d at 791. See also Brown v. Crawford, 906 F.2d 667, 671 (11th Cir.1990) (liability must be based on something more than a theory of respondeat superior) (citing cases). 25 A municipal act is not, however, limited to decisions made by the city's official legislative body or in written agreements. City policy also may be implicated by the acts of individual policymaking officials or by pervasive city custom. See Mandel, 888 F.2d at 791. In dismissing the claims against the city, the district court mistakenly understood Brown's complaint, at paragraph 14, to have admitted that the police department's employment policies were fair and just when the paragraph acknowledged only that there was no formal, written policy of discrimination. Paragraph 14, in fact, alleged that those empowered to carry out the facially equitable written policies did discriminate. 26 Thus, while the complaint explicitly negates a claim of municipal liability based on formally adopted municipal policies, we believe it does, in paragraph 14 and elsewhere, adequately allege facts that would permit the city to be held responsible for Brown's termination under either the policymaker or custom approaches to municipal liability. 27 (1) Final Policymaker. We note preliminarily that neither the pro se plaintiff nor the presumably experienced city counsel has briefed the individual policymaker route to municipal liability, which has been the subject of two recent decisions by the Supreme Court. 9 See Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 123, 108 S.Ct. at 923; Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 481, 106 S.Ct. at 1299. In those cases, the Court explored the scope of this theory of liability and concluded that a city is responsible for any actions taken by the particular official who possesses final authority to establish municipal policy with respect to the action ordered, Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 481, 106 S.Ct. at 1299. In other words, a municipal official who has final policymaking authority in a certain area of the city's business may by his or her action subject the government to Sec. 1983 liability when the challenged action falls within that authority. 28 Whether a particular official has final policymaking authority is a question of state law, Jett v. Dallas Indep. School Dist., 491 U.S. 701, 109 S.Ct. 2702, 2723, 105 L.Ed.2d 598 (1989); Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 124, 108 S.Ct. at 924; Free v. Granger, 887 F.2d 1552, 1557 (11th Cir.1989). In this case, therefore, if the individual defendants were found to have violated Brown's rights by firing him, the City of Fort Lauderdale could be held liable if state law assigns to them the final authority to make personnel decisions for the police department. 29 The record at this point suggests that at least Hoffman, and perhaps Cochran as well, wields the relevant authority. Defense counsel in oral argument and documents submitted by plaintiff indicate that the city manager is the ultimate decisionmaker on police department personnel matters, and counsel suggested at argument that the police chief also is a policymaker with respect to the department's hirings and firings. Our task, however, is not to determine who, in fact, wields final policymaking authority but only to consider whether plaintiff has alleged sufficient facts to withstand the city's motion to dismiss. Without question, plaintiff's allegations against the police chief and city manager leave open the possibility of city liability based on the actions of a policymaker. The district court on remand will need to consider all available evidence of policymaking authority before deciding the issue of municipal liability. See Mandel, 888 F.2d at 793 ([T]he court should examine not only the relevant positive law, including ordinances, rules and regulations, but also the relevant customs and practices having the force of law.). 10 30 (2) Municipal Custom. To prove Sec. 1983 liability against a municipality based on custom, a plaintiff must establish a widespread practice that, although not authorized by written law or express municipal policy, is 'so permanent and well settled as to constitute a 'custom or usage' with the force of law, Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 127, 108 S.Ct. at 926 (quoting Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 167-68, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1613-14, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970)). In other words, a longstanding and widespread practice is deemed authorized by the policymaking officials because they must have known about it but failed to stop it. 31 We disagree with the district court's conclusion that Brown's complaint lacks sufficient allegations of a custom of racial discrimination. Brown repeatedly alleged that his experiences were the result of discriminatory practices accepted by the police department. See pp 10, 13, 15, 19, 22. Indeed, in its discussion of the Sec. 1981 claim against Cochran, the district court referred to the series of discriminatory practices alleged by plaintiff and to Cochran's knowledge of, and acquiescence in, those practices. Such allegations strike us as adequate to state a claim based on municipal custom, particularly in the case of a pro se plaintiff. 32 Moreover, if plaintiff succeeds in proving a city policy of discrimination based on the actions of a final policymaker, he would have no need to prove in addition a custom or practice of racial discrimination. It was therefore premature, at best, to dismiss the claims against the city. 11 33 Thus, as with the Sec. 1983 claims against the individual defendants, we reverse the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's Sec. 1983 claim against the City of Fort Lauderdale and remand for further proceedings.