United States Eighth Circuit

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 case arising from plaintiff's injuries sustained when he was mistakenly bitten by a police dog, summary judgment for the city on a municipal liability claim is affirmed where: 1) the city's written policy concerning the use of dogs is lawful on its face; 2) policies relating to the use of dogs were lawful on their face, despite their silence regarding the circumstances under which an officer should provide a warning before a canine is directed to bite and hold a suspect; 3) the evidence on the record was insufficient to set forth a case of deliberate indifference; and 4) a constitutional right that an officer in such circumstances give advance warning was not clearly established as of August 2000, and thus the city's fault could not rise to the level of deliberate indifference.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/18/2007
• Published 05/18/2007

Judges

• COLLOTON, Circuit Judge., Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, JOHN R. GIBSON, WOLLMAN, ARNOLD, MURPHY, BYE, RILEY, MELLOY, SMITH, COLLOTON, GRUENDER, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Boris Parker, argued, Minneapolis, MN (Timothy R. Maher, Minneapolis, MN, on the brief), for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Jon K. Iverson, argued, Bloomington, MN (Jason J. Kuboushek, Bloomington, MN, Joseph E. Flynn, Susan S. Tice, Lake Elmo, MN, on the brief), for appellee.