Opinion ID: 770823
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Supervisors and Commissioners

Text: 74 The district court found material fact disputes concerning whether police supervisors and commissioners were liable for actions taken as supervisors. See Cunningham , 989 F.Supp. at 1268. Supervisors can be held liable for: 1) their own culpable action or inaction in the training, supervision, or control of subordinates; 2) their acquiescence in the constitutional deprivation of which a complaint is made; or 3) for conduct that showed a reckless or callous indifference to the rights of others. See Larez v. City of Los Angeles, 946 F.2d 630, 646 (9th Cir. 1991). In this case, the district court found the following: 75 [O]n the basis of the Christopher Commission Report and of both positive evidence and lack of contrary evidence that there has been no change, that the officer code of silence and the preference for believing officer versions of excessive force incidents over other more credible evidence have existed continuously from the date of release of the Christopher Commission Report. A jury could also find that if excessive force was used by the SIS officers in this case, there is a causal connection between these poli cies and the use of force against [the plaintiffs]. 76 Cunningham, 989 F.Supp. at 1268. Although the evidence seems to clearly suggest that the commissioners took numerous steps to implement the recommendations of the Christopher Commission, and although evidence of supervisor misconduct seems virtually nonexistent, because the district court found material factual disputes, we lack jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of qualified immunity for police supervisors and commissioners. See Collins, 110 F.3d at 1370. 77 Notwithstanding our inability to review the district court's finding of factual disputes, we reverse the denial of summary judgment as to Captain Daniel Koenig in the Cunningham/ Soly action. The undisputed evidence clearly shows that Captain Koenig did not assume a supervisory position over the SIS until nearly one month after the Cunningham/Soly shootout. Captain Koenig cannot incur supervisory liability for conduct that occurred before he became an SIS supervisor.