Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati
- Decided
- March 25, 1986
- Docket
- 84-1160
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 6,061 timesSuperseded by statute (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: superseded by statute (not yet verified) · Buoniconti v. City of Philadelphia
What later courts said
- holding that government policy or custom may be established by “a single decision by municipal policymakers under appropriate circumstances” — Saldivar v. Racine (2016)
- holding that a municipality may be held liable for decisions of the final policymaker for the municipality — Boyd v. Robeson County (2005)
- holding that the authority to make municipal policy is necessarily the authority to make final policy — Santibanes v. City of Tomball, Tex. (2009)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part II-B.
In Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U. S. 658 (1978), the Court concluded that municipal liability-under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 is limited to deprivations of federally protected rights caused by action taken “pursuant to official municipal policy of some nature . . . .” Id., at 691. The question presented is whether, and in what circumstances, a decision by municipal policymakers on a single occasion may satisfy this requirement.
I
Statutes cited
Cite this
Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469 (1986)Read the full opinion
Reading the library on this site uses your account’s daily calls, the same as the connector and the API. The Free plan needs no card. Calls a day on each plan.