Nahmod Law

It is crucial for a section 1983 plaintiff’s attorney in section 1983 damages actions against state and local government officials to specify whether the plaintiff is suing them in their individual or official capacities, and to understand the important differences. Defense attorneys must also understand these differences.

An individual capacity damages action is an action against the official personally, so that, if the suit is successful, the official is liable personally for damages (although indemnification by the local government is likely). An individual capacity damages action may therefore trigger an absolute or qualified immunity inquiry. Government liability and the official policy or custom requirement are irrelevant.

An official capacity damages action is an action against the official’s government. If the official works for or on behalf of a local government, then the official policy or custom requirement for local government liability is triggered. Absolute and qualified immunity are irrelevant here.

If the official works for or on behalf of a state government, then the section 1983 damages action will be dismissed because the state is not a suable person under section 1983 as a matter of statutory interpretation. This restriction on section 1983 cannot be avoided by suing a state official for damages in his official capacity rather than suing the state in its own name.

The Eighth Circuit’s Decision in Banks v. Slay

As an example of the importance of this distinction for both parties, consider the Eighth Circuit’s decision in Banks v. Slay, 2017 WL 5504388, *1 (8^th Cir. 2017).

The Eighth Circuit explained the issue before it:

A core tenet of [§1983] jurisprudence is that an official-capacity suit against an individual is really a suit against that official’s government entity. This case applies that principle, as the primary issue we are called upon to decide is whether—under the facts of this case—a properly served, yet unnamed government entity may evade a judgment obtained solely against an employee is his official capacity. Our answer, flowing from settled precedent, is that it may not.

The plaintiffs here named two city police officers accused of threatening, robbing and falsely arresting one of the plaintiffs in their individual and official capacities. He also named each member of the city’s board of police commissioners in their official capacities, although they were later dismissed by the plaintiffs, as was one of the police officers. The complaint and summons had been previously served on the board defendants. Thereafter, judgment was entered against the remaining police officer defendant in his official capacity. The Eighth Circuit ruled that mandamus to enforce the judgment was properly issued against the city because the plaintiffs had an enforceable judgment against it. The court observed that naming a government entity separately in an official capacity damages action was not necessary.

Comment

1. I can only assume that in Banks the plaintiffs alleged and proved an official policy or custom in order to support the judgment against the remaining police officer defendant in his official capacity. If not, the plaintiff caught a break.

2. A good way for section 1983 plaintiffs’ attorneys to avoid confusing themselves, defendants and courts is to sue the local government for damages in its own name, rather than relying on official capacity damages actions against local government officials. This puts the official policy or custom requirement right up front and eliminates individual immunity concerns (unless, of course, local government officials are also sued in the same case for damages in their individual capacities). See generally ch. 6 of my treatise, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES LITIGATION: THE LAW OF SECTION 1983 (4th ed. 2017).

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