Burger v. County of Macon

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-County’s motion to dismiss plaintiff-employee’s section 1983 action alleging that defendant terminated her in violation of her constitutional rights. Under Monell, 436 U.S. 658, local government can only be liable under section 1983 if rights-depriving act pertained to official policy made by local government’s officials whose acts may fairly represent local government’s policy. Moreover, record showed that applicable decision-makers, i.e., State’s Attorney and Assistant State’s Attorney are state, as opposed to county officers. As such, these individuals would not be responsible for establishing final policy with respect to County’s policy, and thus plaintiff failed to state basis for County’s liability under Monell.