Marsh v. Phelps County, No. 17-1260 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the County and others in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action alleging that plaintiff was sexually assaulted by former corrections officer Louis Campana. The court held that the claims against the County were properly dismissed where plaintiff failed to show that the County itself caused the constitutional violation at issue; nothing in the record established that any failure to train Campana caused him to assault plaintiff or that the County was deliberately indifferent to plaintiff's rights; two supervisors' negligence was not sufficient to establish section 1983 liability; a reasonable officer in Sheriff Samuelson's position would not have known that he needed to more closely supervise Campana, and the Sheriff was entitled to qualified immunity; and a reasonable officer in Defendant Gregg's position would not have concluded on this record that Campana posed an obvious risk to commit sexual assault.
Court Description: Beam, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Colloton, Circuit Judge] Civil case - Civil rights. In action alleging plaintiff was sexually assaulted by a guard while she was an inmate at the Phelps County jail, the district court granted summary judgment to the County and the offending guard's supervisors, and plaintiff appeals. The district court did not err in granting the County summary judgment on plaintiff's unconstitutional policy or custom claim as plaintiff identified no evidence that evinces a deliberate choice of a guiding principle or procedure made by the County authorizing officers to engage in the behavior, and no evidence suggested that one one existed in the first instance; nothing in the record established that any failure to train the guard caused him to assault plaintiff or that County was deliberately indifferent to plaintiff's rights; with respect to the guards' supervisors' individual liability, negligence on their behalf would not be sufficient to establish Section 1983 liability; a reasonable officer in Sheriff Samuelson's position would not have known that he needed to more closely supervise the guard, and the Sheriff was entitled to qualified immunity; nor would a reasonable officer in defendant Gregg's position have concluded on this record that the guard posed an obvious risk to commit sexual assault.
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