United States Tenth Circuit

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 lawsuit brought by terminated nursing home administrator alleging that she failed to receive the process due her under defendant-district's written termination policies, a judgment against plaintiff is reversed as: 1) contrary to the holding below, a municipality is responsible for both actions taken by subordinate employees in conformance with preexisting official policies or customs, and actions taken by final policymakers, whose conduct can be no less described as the "official policy" of a municipality; 2) such conduct includes even actions by final policymakers taken in defiance of a policy or custom that they themselves adopted; and 3) as the Board that terminated plaintiff was the final policymaker for defendant on personnel matters, defendant was not immune from potential section 1983 liability on Monell grounds.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/06/2007
• Published 11/07/2007

Judges

• GORSUCH, Circuit Judge., Before HENRY, SEYMOUR, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Kenneth B. Grimes, Kenneth B. Grimes, P.C., Salt Lake City, Ut, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Steve K. Gordon, Durham, Jones & Pinegar, P.C., Salt Lake City, Ut, for Defendant-Appellee.