Legal Handbook for Council Members 2022

DATE: TO: FROM: SUBJECT:

August 11, 2022 Mayor and City Council Ch uck Watts , City Attorney Liability of City Members under Civil Rights Act (Commonly Referred to as Section 1983)

PURPOSE AND ELEMENTS OF SECTION 1983

Section 1983 provides that every person who "under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage" of any state or territory deprives anyone of "rights, privileges, or immunities" secured by the U.S. Constitution is liable to the injured party. While these types of liability suits originate under both state and federal law. Most are federal court actions for alleged civil rights violations. (Civil Rights Act of 1971 — 42 U.S. Code, Section 1983.) To recover payment of damages under Section 1983, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant deprived him or her of a right secured by the U.S. Constitution or laws, as well as show that the right was deprived by acts committed under color of a statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of a state or local government. City Council members may be subject to civil liability under this Section and can be sued in their official capacities as well as in their individual capacities. OFFICIAL CAPACITY Only those lawsuits filed against council members in their official capacities are construed to be against the City itself, thus protecting individual council members from personal liability. The City can only act through its officials and employees and hence the acts of City officials are the acts of the City. Since the City has no qualified immunity from damages liability, likewise City officials sued in their official capacities have no qualified immunity because the suit against them is the same as a suit against the City. Brandon v. Holt, 105 S.Ct. 873 (1985). General or compensatory damages recovered against City officials sued in their official capacities will be paid from public funds, not personal funds of individual council members. Municipalities and City officials sued in their official capacities are immune from punitive damages. As distinguished from general or compensatory damages, punitive damages are damages over and above the amount which will compensate plaintiffs for their actual losses. Punitive damages are intended to punish defendants for their wrongdoing and to serve as a deterrent to other potential wrongdoers.