## Facts

- A. Griffin worked as a billing clerk in the City of Opa-Locka’s water department.
- The City hired Earnie P. Neal as City Manager; after he began work, he repeatedly directed sexually suggestive and degrading comments and unwanted advances at Griffin.
- Griffin rebuffed Neal’s conduct; evidence showed similar inappropriate behavior toward multiple female employees and awareness by City officials without effective corrective action.
- Near the end of Griffin’s employment, she attended a Rotary Club event with Neal and other City employees; Neal insisted on driving her home and raped her in her home.
- Griffin sued Neal and the City, including claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for sexual harassment and sexual assault and related theories of municipal liability.
- A jury found Neal liable for sexual harassment and rape; found the harassment reflected a City custom or policy; found Neal acted under color of law; and found the City was deliberately indifferent in hiring Neal.
- The jury awarded $2 million compensatory damages ($500,000 tied to harassment; $1.5 million tied to the rape).

## Issues

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by denying bifurcation, admitting expert testimony concerning the rape allegation, and denying a new trial based on emotional outbursts at trial.
2. Whether the City could be liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Neal’s sexual harassment based on a municipal policy or custom (and related deliberate indifference).
3. Whether the City could be liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Neal’s rape of Griffin on a municipal liability theory.
4. Whether the City was deliberately indifferent in hiring Neal, supporting § 1983 municipal liability.
5. Whether the compensatory damages award required remittitur or a new trial.

## Decision

- The judgment against Neal was affirmed on all claims.
- The City’s § 1983 liability for Neal’s sexual harassment was affirmed.
- The City’s § 1983 liability for Neal’s rape was reversed.
- The finding that the City was deliberately indifferent in hiring Neal was affirmed.
- The district court’s denial of a new trial and remittitur was affirmed, except to the extent the award depended on the reversed § 1983 rape liability against the City.

## Legal Principles

- A municipality is not liable under § 1983 on a respondeat superior theory; liability requires proof that the constitutional violation was caused by an official policy, a widespread and settled custom, or action by a final policymaker.
- A persistent pattern of tolerated misconduct, coupled with knowledge and inaction by officials, can support a finding of a municipal custom sufficient for § 1983 liability.
- For municipal liability, it is not enough that an employee acted under color of law; the plaintiff must still connect the injury to a municipal policy or custom.
- A municipality may be liable for a hiring decision when policymakers act with deliberate indifference—i.e., when an applicant’s known background makes the risk of a rights violation a plainly obvious consequence of the hire.
- Trial-management rulings (including bifurcation, evidentiary decisions, and denial of a new trial) are reviewed for abuse of discretion; judgment as a matter of law is reviewed de novo with the evidence viewed in the verdict winner’s favor.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit upheld liability and damages against the City for workplace sexual harassment based on evidence of a tolerated, widespread practice and deliberate indifference in hiring, but reversed municipal liability for the rape because the criminal assault was not sufficiently attributable to a City policy or custom, even though Neal could be held individually liable under color of law.


Griffin v. City of Opa-Locka, 261 F.3d 1295 (11th Cir. 2001)