Stack v. KarnesStack v. Karnes
OPINION AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court for consideration of Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. # 6) and Plaintiffs memorandum in opposition (Doc. # 16). For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the motion to dismiss.
I. Background
On June 13, 2009, Plaintiff, Charles Stack, was arrested, taken into custody, and transported to Franklin County Corrections Center I. Plaintiff, a diabetic, alleges that on numerous occasions he alerted employees at the jail of his medical status and his need for his insulin medicine. As a result of ignoring Plaintiffs requests for the insulin medication, Plaintiff alleges that he suffered injuries and had to receive medical care.
Plaintiff initiated the immediate action under
II. Discussion
A. Standard Involved
A motion to dismiss under
To be considered plausible, a claim must be more than merely conceivable.
Bell Atlantic Corp.,
B. Analysis
1. Defendant Franklin County
Defendants first argue that a 12(b)(6) dismissal is appropriate as to Defendant Franklin County because it is not
sui juris
and thus, lacks the capacity to sue or be sued without explicit statutory authorization. More specifically, Defendants rely on Section 301.22 of the Ohio Revised Code for the proposition that the only counties that can be sued or are capable of suing are those that adopt a charter or alternative form of government, which Franklin County has not done.
See
Thus, the issue before the Court is whether a county’s lack of capacity to sue or be sued under
Moreover, the Sixth Circuit has not directly dealt with this issue.
See Petty v. County of Franklin,
Because of the inconsistent manner in which Ohio district courts have dealt with this issue and because the Sixth Circuit has not squarely addressed the issue, this Court will consider it in depth. To determine whether a county that lacks the capacity to be sued under state law is nevertheless subject to suit under
Absent explicit statutory authorization suggesting otherwise, Ohio counties, by retaining their sovereignty from the state, generally cannot be sued.
See Pancake v. Wakefield,
To prevail on a
The Supreme Court’s decision in
Monell,
however, cannot be read as providing carte blanche authority to hold municipalities or local governments liable when they implement a constitutionally depriving custom or policy. Rather, liability may not be imposed where it would be inconsistent with the Eleventh Amendment.
See id.
at n. 54 (stating that “[o]ur holding today is, of course, limited to local government units which are not considered part of the State for Eleventh Amendment purposes”). Accordingly, entities that qualify for Eleventh Amendment immunity are not subject to a
Monell
claim.
Id.
Therefore, they cannot be a “person” for purposes of
Thus, the Court must determine the applicability of the Eleventh Amendment to local governments, such as Franklin County, and the effect, if any, of the immunity from suit provided to such counties under Ohio Revised Code
In that regard, the Supreme Court has consistently refused to apply Eleventh Amendment protection to counties because they are not arms of the state.
See Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Reg’l Planning Agency,
With the immunity afforded by the Eleventh Amendment being inapplicable to Franklin County, the Court turns to the effect of
If the Court were to assume
arguendo
that it is not the issue of immunity that is the determinative issue but rather Franklin County’s lack of capacity to be sued, that argument, on its face, has merit because an entity’s capacity to be sued in federal court is to be determined
by state law.
This Court’s independent review of federal law indicates that there is some merit to the contention that “[i]n order to bring a viable§ 1983 claim against a defendant, the defendant sued must be an entity that is subject to being sued [under state law.]” This is because, underFed.R.Civ.P. 17(b) , an entity’s capacity to be sued is to be determined by state law. A closely-related question is whether a governmental entity that cannot sue or be sued qualifies as a “person” for the purposes of§ 1983 .
Courts have generally treated questions of whether a§ 1983 suit may be brought against a “political subdivision”of a state ... under the rubric of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity analysis, and have looked to whether the governmental entity in question shares the state’s own immunity from suit .... In this way, courts have generally found a governmental entity’s suability under § 1988 to be a function of the entity’s sovereign immunity under federal law. Thus, the Ohio cases holding that a county cannot be sued have reasoned that “[cjounties are local subdivisions of a State, created by the sovereign power of the State, of its own sovereign will,” as opposed to “municipal corporations,” which are not “superimposed by a sovereign and paramount authority.” The essential logic of these venerable eases is that the State of Ohio decided, on its own sovereign initiative, to divide its territory into county units, while there was no analogous central planning regarding the creation of Ohio cities and other municipal entities. Instead, the latter entities were formed in the manner of a Lockean social contract, “either at the direct solicitation or by the free consent of the people who compose them.” It is thus apparent that, even under Ohio law, the question of a governmental entity’s suability [under Section 801.22] is not conceptually distinct from the question of the entity’s sovereign immunity as an arm of the State.
Turner,
This result was also not anticipated by the Supreme Court in
Monell.
When examining the congressional history of
Municipal corporations in 1871 were included within the phase “bodies politic and corporate” and, accordingly, the “plain meaning” of § 1 is that local government bodies were to be included within the ambit of persons who could be sued under § 1 of the Civil Rights Act.
Monell,
As a result, the determinative issue of the present motion becomes whether Plaintiff has filed a satisfactory claim pursuant to
Monell.
The decision by the Sixth Circuit in
Petty
is informative. Therein, the court articulated a two-part test for determining whether the
Monell
standard has been satisfied, stating that [t]he mandate of
Monell
and its progeny requires (1) that a municipality be held liable only “when execution of a government’s policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury,” ... and (2) that there be an “affirmative link between the policy and the particular constitutional violation alleged[.]”
Petty,
Examples of municipal “policy or custom” vary depending upon the theory upon which a plaintiff relies. A municipal “policy or custom” may be shown by the plaintiff pointing to duly adopted municipal law,
Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati,
In pertinent part, Plaintiffs Complaint alleges:
31. The Defendants ... historically have had a policy, custom, and practice of failing to implement an adequate training program to properly train detention facility/jail personnel.
32. These Defendants adopted, ratified and/or implemented the policies, practices and procedures which denied Plaintiff ... medical treatment within a reasonable period of time and did so with deliberate indifference to the Plaintiffs serious medical needs, thereby violating Plaintiffs constitutional rights.
(Doc. # 3, ¶¶ 31-32.)
The Court finds that Plaintiffs allegations state a plausible
Monell
claim against Franklin County. That is, Plaintiff alleges that Franklin County has historically implemented a policy or custom of failing to implement adequate training programs. Likewise, Plaintiff alleges that this policy/custom resulted in Plaintiff not receiving proper medical treatment.
See e.g., Petty,
2. Defendant Franklin County Board of Commissioners
In their motion, Defendants also argue that Franklin County Board of Commissioners should be dismissed because it has no duty to keep a safe jail and that it cannot be held liable on a respondeat superior claim. Defendants’ argument is well taken.
This Court has previously held that dismissal was appropriate on a
Plaintiffs argument to impute liability on the commissioners under a theory of
respondeat superior
is similarly without merit.
See Brown,
Thus, Plaintiff has failed to set forth a valid
III. Conclusion
In light of the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. # 6). The Court GRANTS dismissal as to Defendant Franklin County Board of Commissioners and DENIES dismissal as to Defendant Franklin County.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. This action was initially filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on June 10, 2010 and removed to this Court. (Doc. #2.)