Opinion ID: 381330
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Gray-the-Citizen Versus Gray-the-Official-Representative-of-Harris-County

Text: 26 In contesting the assessment of damages against Harris County, appellant first argues that a county cannot be held liable for the action of its official in dismissing a county employee. 27 The Supreme Court in Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), clearly delineated the guidelines for determining the cases in which a county will be considered to have acted as a person subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983: 28 We conclude, therefore, that a local government may not be sued 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. 29 98 S.Ct. at 2038. 30 As is true of almost every newly-evolved legal standard, the application of the Monell test is not as easy as its delineation. The Supreme Court in its justifiable authoritarian voice in Monell has spoken and we workers in the judicial vineyard must labor together to attain the result that their wisdom commands. The question whether Gray's dismissal of Van Ooteghem was an injury inflicted solely by (the County's) employees or agents or, alternatively, whether it represented the execution of a government's policy . . . made by (one) whose . . . acts may fairly be said to represent official policy would be difficult to address without guidance. Fortunately, the necessary assistance has been provided by the recent and insightful discussion of the Monell problem in Familias Unidas v. Briscoe, 619 F.2d 391 (5th Cir. 1980). In considering a Texas county's liability for the actions of a county judge in a § 1983 action, Judge Reavley noted: 31 Because of the unique structure of county government in Texas, the judge-like other elected county officials, such as the sheriff and treasurer-holds virtually absolute sway over the particular tasks or areas of responsibility entrusted to him by state statute and is accountable to no one other than the voters for his conduct therein. (S. MacCorkle, D. Smith & J. May, Texas Government 347 (7th ed. 1974)); E. Jones, J. Ericson, L. Brown & R. Trotter, Practicing Politics in Texas 205 (3d ed. 1977). Thus, at least in those areas in which he, alone, is the final authority or ultimate repository of county power, his official conduct and decisions must necessarily be considered those of one whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy for which the county may be held responsible under section 1983. Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. at 694, 98 S.Ct. at 2038. See generally, Schnapper, Civil Rights Litigation After Monell, 79 Colum.L.Rev. 213, 215-19 (1979). 32 Familias Unidas v. Briscoe, 619 F.2d 391 at 404 (5th Cir. 1980) (emphasis added). 33 There is little doubt as to the wisdom of holding a county liable for an official's acts undertaken in those areas in which the official is the final authority or ultimate repository of county power. The only way a county treasurer, or any local government entity, can establish official policy is through the actions of the individual, or group of individuals, who possess final authority within that body. Moreover, in the inevitable bureaucracy of our complex society, the policy decisions need not always emanate from apoghean planes in the hierarchy, but often may have their source in subordinate realms. A county must be held accountable for more than its officially-codified policies; in cases where the written law of a local government entity vests unbridled authority in certain areas in an individual, his decisions become the controlling law and official policy of the entity. 34 Hartsell Gray was an elected official equal in authority to the County Commissioners in his domain. Pursuant to Texas law, Gray had complete authority for the hiring and firing of personnel within the Treasury. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 3912c (Vernon 1966). When he so acted, he acted for Harris County; when he so erred, he erred for the County. Pursuant to the test enunciated in Familias, Gray's dismissal of Van Ooteghem clearly represented official policy for which Harris County may be held liable. 7 35