Can a municipality be held liable under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act?

Although municipalities are immune from 1983 suits based on vicarious liability, municipalities may be held liable under 1983 if the government entity subjects a person to a deprivation of rights or causes a person to be subjected to such deprivation. See Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs. of City of N.Y., 436 U.S. 658, 691-92 (1978).

Generally, there are three ways in which a plaintiff can show that a municipality is liable under 1983: the plaintiff may prove that (1) "a city employee committed the alleged constitutional violation pursuant to a formal governmental policy or a longstanding practice or custom which constitutes the standard operating procedure of the local governmental entity"; (2) "the individual who committed the constitutional tort was an official with final policy-making authority and that the challenged action itself thus constituted an act of official government policy"; or (3) "an official with final policy-making authority ratified a subordinate's unconstitutional decision or action and the basis for it." Gillette v. Delmore, 979 F.2d 1342, 1346-47 (9th Cir. 1992) (quotation marks and citations omitted).

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