Kendel v. Orr’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Two types of inaction have been recognized by the courts as cognizable under section 1983. The touchstone of the Monell decision was that a municipality was not liable “unless action pursuant to official municipal policy of some nature caused a constitutional tort.” Monell, 436 U.S. at 691 [ 98 S.Ct. at 2036 ], In Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 371 [ 96 S.Ct. 598, 604 , 46 L.Ed.2d 561 ] (1976), the Supreme Court held that a police commissioner and others were not responsible for the unconstitutional acts of police officers because the facts failed to demonstrate an “affirmative link” between the officers’ misconduct and any official authorization or approval of the misconduct. The Tenth Circuit has interpreted the “affirmative link” requirement of Rizzo to mean that “before a superior may be held for acts of an inferior, the superior, expressly or otherwise, must have participated or acquiesced in the constitutional deprivation of which complaint is made.” Kite, 546 F.2d at 337 . In McClelland v. Facteau, 610 F.2d 693, 697 (10th Cir. 1979), the Tenth Circuit extended the acquiescence theory and held that “when the defendant was in a position of responsibility, knew or should have known of the misconduct, and yet failed to act to prevent future harm,” liability under section 1983 would accrue. Thus, for supervisory inaction to form the basis of section 1983 liability, the plaintiff must establish either (1) an official policy or custom which results in constitutional violations”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 626 F. Supp. 1179 - Medcalf v. State of Kan.