Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown
1997 U.S. LEXIS 2793, 520 U.S. 397, 137 L. Ed. 2d 626 (1997)
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Rule of Law:
A municipality can only be held liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a single, facially lawful hiring decision if the decision reflects deliberate indifference to a 'plainly obvious' risk that the hired employee would inflict the particular constitutional injury alleged by the plaintiff.
Facts:
- In May 1991, Jill Brown and her husband were pursued in their vehicle by Bryan County Deputy Sheriff Robert Morrison and Reserve Deputy Stacy Burns after turning away from a police checkpoint.
- The chase reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour and ended four miles from the checkpoint.
- After the chase, Burns, who was unarmed, ordered Jill Brown out of the vehicle.
- When Brown did not immediately exit, Burns used an 'arm bar' technique to forcibly pull her from the vehicle and spin her to the ground, causing severe and permanent knee injuries.
- Bryan County Sheriff B.J. Moore had hired Burns, who was his great-nephew, as a reserve deputy.
- Prior to being hired, Burns had a criminal record that included numerous driving infractions and misdemeanor convictions for assault and battery, resisting arrest, and public drunkenness.
- Sheriff Moore had obtained Burns’s driving record and a national crime report but testified that he had not closely reviewed either before authorizing Burns to make arrests.
Procedural Posture:
- Jill Brown sued Reserve Deputy Stacy Burns, Sheriff B.J. Moore, and Bryan County in the United States District Court, alleging violations of her constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
- The District Court dismissed the claim against Sheriff Moore prior to trial.
- Following a trial, the jury found Burns liable for excessive force and found Bryan County liable based on its 'hiring policy,' which it deemed 'so inadequate as to amount to deliberate indifference.'
- The District Court entered judgment against Bryan County.
- Bryan County, as appellant, appealed the judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
- The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment against the county, holding it could be liable for Sheriff Moore's single decision to hire Burns.
- The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the Court of Appeals' decision.
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Issue:
Is a county liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a constitutional tort committed by a reserve deputy, based on the sheriff's single, isolated decision to hire that deputy without adequately screening his criminal background?
Opinions:
Majority - Justice O’Connor
No. A county is not liable for a single hiring decision by a policymaker unless that decision demonstrates 'deliberate indifference' to a specific and obvious risk of a constitutional violation. For liability to attach, a plaintiff must show a direct causal link between the hiring decision and the specific injury suffered. It is not enough to show that inadequate screening made some constitutional violation more likely; the plaintiff must prove that adequate scrutiny of the applicant's record would have led a reasonable policymaker to conclude that the plainly obvious consequence of hiring the applicant would be the deprivation of the particular right that was violated. Here, Burns's record of misdemeanors, while making him a poor candidate for a law enforcement position, did not make his subsequent use of excessive force a 'plainly obvious consequence' of Sheriff Moore's decision to hire him.
Dissenting - Justice Souter
Yes. The majority creates a new, heightened standard of 'plainly obvious consequence' that is virtually impossible for a plaintiff to meet in a single-act hiring case, effectively guaranteeing the county's victory. The jury was entitled to find that Sheriff Moore was aware of Burns’s criminal history, which included violent offenses, and consciously disregarded the substantial risk that Burns would use excessive force on the job. The Court's skepticism of the jury's finding is unwarranted, as the evidence was sufficient to conclude the sheriff acted with deliberate indifference, not mere negligence, by hiring his violent great-nephew and placing him in a position of authority.
Dissenting - Justice Breyer
The Court should reconsider the underlying precedent of Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. The distinction between impermissible respondeat superior liability and permissible 'policy or custom' liability has created a highly complex and confusing body of law that is difficult to apply consistently, as this case demonstrates. The Court's creation of ever-finer distinctions, such as the 'plainly obvious consequence' standard, suggests that the original Monell doctrine itself may be unsound. Given the doctrine's weak historical foundation and the practical difficulties it has created, the Court should reexamine whether respondeat superior liability is, in fact, barred by § 1983.
Analysis:
This decision significantly raises the evidentiary bar for plaintiffs seeking to hold municipalities liable under § 1983 for inadequate screening in a single hiring decision. By requiring proof that the specific constitutional violation was a 'plainly obvious consequence' of the hiring, the Court narrowed the path to recovery, demanding a much stronger causal link than mere foreseeability. This ruling reinforces the Court's commitment to preventing § 1983 from becoming a vehicle for respondeat superior liability and makes it extremely difficult to establish municipal liability without showing a broader pattern of unconstitutional conduct or a hiring decision so egregious that a specific constitutional violation was almost certain to follow.
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