Bolderson v. City of Wentzville, No. 15-3846 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, the former building commissioner of the city, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that she was fired in retaliation for engaging in protected speech. The district court granted summary judgment to the city. The court concluded that the present record does not support a conclusion that the city is liable because a municipality cannot be held liable under section 1983 solely because it employs a tortfeasor. In this case, plaintiff maintains that the city is liable because her harm stemmed from an official municipal policy or an unofficial municipal custom. The court explained that plaintiff tangentially refers to other evidence of the custom that she claims victimized her, but the materials cited reveal only unsubstantiated suspicions. Because no reasonable jury could conclude that the evidence demonstrated a reasonable dispute about the presence of a continuing, widespread, and persistent pattern of unconstitutional misconduct that led to her termination, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Arnold, Author, with Wollman and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil rights. A municipality cannot be held liable under Section 1983 solely because it employs a tortfeasor and plaintiff failed to show that the alleged violations of her civil rights resulted from an official municipal policy or an unofficial custom; as a result, the district court did not err in granting the city's motion for summary judgment. Home | Contact Us | Employment | Glossary of Legal Terms | Site Map | RSS Privacy Policy|BrowseAloud
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