SAM A. LINDSAY, District Judge.
Before the court are the following motions: Defendant Dallas County's Motion for Reconsideration (Doc. 117), filed March 15, 2017; Defendant Dallas County's Motion in Limine (Doc. 125), filed June 5, 2017; Plaintiff's Motion for Separate Trials Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(b) (Doc. 126), filed June 8, 2017; Plaintiff's Motions in Limine (Doc. 128), filed June 9, 2017; Defendant Richie Ladone Wimbish's Federal Rule of Evidence 412(b)(2) Motion to Admit Evidence of Plaintiff's Sexual Behavior and Sexual Predisposition (Doc. 147), filed June 20, 2017; and Defendant Richie Ladone Wimbish's Motions in Limine (Doc. 158), filed June 27, 2017.
For the reasons herein explained, the court
Defendant Dallas County ("Dallas County" or "the County") requests that the court reconsider that portion of its March 13, 2017 opinion (Doc. 116) denying Dallas County's summary judgment motion with respect to Paula Longoria's ("Plaintiff" or "Longoria") claim against the County based on an episodic act or omission. The County contends that, although it acknowledged for purposes of its summary judgment motion that Plaintiff had established a constitutional violation, it successfully challenged the ultimate issue of the County's municipal liability. Dallas County contends that the court's opinion as to the County's section 1983 liability represents the law of the case and forecloses any claim by Plaintiff based on an episodic act or omission because, even if Plaintiff can establish a constitutional violation, she cannot satisfy the second prerequisite for holding the County liable based on an episodic acts or omissions theory under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which requires evidence that "the municipal employee's act resulted from a municipal's policy or custom adopted or maintained with objective deliberate indifference." Def.'s Mot. for Reconsideration 3 (quoting Scott v. Moore, 114 F.3d 51, 54 (5th Cir. 1997) (en banc)).
Plaintiff responds that the court correctly determined that any claim by her against the County under an episodic acts or omissions theory remains for trial because the County admits in its Motion for Reconsideration that it did not move for summary judgment on the episodic act theory. Plaintiff contends that, because the County did not move for summary judgment on its liability for the episodic constitutional violation, the court did not have authority to grant summary judgment sua sponte on a ground not requested by the County. Plaintiff, therefore, asserts that the County has not offered any proper basis for the court to reconsider its ruling denying the County's summary judgment motion with respect to her claim against the County based on an episodic act or omission.
Constitutional challenges by pretrial detainees such as Plaintiff are classified as either "an attack on a `condition of confinement' or as an `episodic act or omission.'" Scott, 114 F.3d at 53 (citation omitted). A claim based on an episodic act or omission requires proof of an episodic act or omission ("constitutional violation simpliciter") and "a municipality's liability for that violation." Id. at 54 (quoting Hare v. City of Corinth, 74 F.3d 633, 649 n.4 (5th Cir. 1996) (en banc). "[T]o prove an underlying constitutional violation in an individual or episodic acts case, a pre-trial detainee must establish that an official acted with subjective deliberate indifference." Id. at 54 (quoting Hare, 74 F.3d at 649 n.4. "To succeed in holding a municipality accountable for that [constitutional] violation, however, the detainee must [also] show that the municipal employee's act resulted from a municipal policy or custom adopted or maintained with objective deliberate indifference to the detainee's constitutional rights." Id. at 54 (quoting Hare, 74 F.3d at 649 n.4, which in turn quotes Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 841 (1994), for the proposition that "It would be hard to describe the Canton [v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 103 L. Ed. 2d 412 (1989)] understanding of deliberate indifference, permitting liability to be premised on obviousness or constructive notice, as anything but objective.").
In ruling on the County's Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings, the court concluded that the County was entitled to judgment on Plaintiff's claim under section 1983 based on a conditions of confinement theory after determining that Plaintiff had abandoned this claim. The court, on the other hand, denied the County's Rule 12(c) motion as to Plaintiff's claim under section 1983 based on an episodic acts or omissions theory because, "although the County moved for judgment on Longoria's section 1983 claim in its entirety and mention[ed] the episodic acts or omissions theory, it d[id] not address why a claim based on this theory fails as a matter of law. Mem. Op. & Order 8. The court also denied the County's summary judgment motion with respect to Plaintiff's claim under section 1983 based on an episodic acts or omissions theory because, although the County incorporated its Rule 12(c) arguments in its summary judgment motion and the County's Rule 12(c) motion mentioned Plaintiff's claim based on episodic acts or omissions, the County did not specifically explain why judgment on this claim was appropriate, and no further argument or evidence was provided in the County's summary judgment motion regarding this claim. Id. at 42.
As noted above, the County clarified in its Motion for Reconsideration that, while it did not move for summary judgment on the first requirement for Plaintiff's episodic act or omission claim, that is, the requirement that Plaintiff establish an episodic act or omission (constitutional violation), it did move for judgment on the County's municipal liability, and the court's ruling as to this issue encompasses and negates the second requirement of Plaintiff's episodic act or omission claim. The court agrees.
Although not models of pellucid draftsmanship, the County's summary judgment briefs contained argument regarding the County's municipal liability, including whether the constitutional violation(s) alleged by Plaintiff resulted from a municipal policy or custom adopted or maintained by the County with objective deliberate indifference. The parties also submitted evidence regarding this issue. Thus, the court's prior discussion regarding the County's municipal liability under the standard for deliberate indifference set forth in City of Canton was not raised sua sponte by the court or without notice to Plaintiff, as this issue was extensively briefed by both parties.
The court's ruling as to Dallas County's Motion for Reconsideration moots Dallas County's Motion in Limine (Doc. 125) and Plaintiff's Motion for Separate Trials Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(b) (Doc. 126), and the court
Further, the court
Accordingly, the court
For the reasons stated, the court
Accordingly, all claims against Dallas County based on an episodic theory of liability are