may happen that in light of the duties assigned to specific officers or employees foreseeable: “[I]t the need for more or different training is so obvious, and the inadequacy so likely to result in the violation of constitutional rights, that the policymakers of the city can reasonably be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the 489 U.S. at 390. In a post-Connick case, City of Canton, need.” 749 F.3d 217 (3d Cir. 2014), the court of appeals found the Thomas v. Cumberland County, evidence sufficient for the claim to go to a jury under this standard. It held that reasonable jury “a could conclude based on the frequency of fights and the volatile nature of the that the prison” county was deliberately indifferent based on its failure to provide training in conflict de-escalation. The Third Circuit has previously applied a three-part test to determine whether “a municipality's failure to train or supervise to amount[s] to deliberate Under this test, indifference”: must be shown that (1) municipal policymakers know that employees will confront a particular “it situation; (2) the situation involves a difficult choice or a history of employees mishandling; and (3) the wrong choice by an employee will frequently cause deprivation of constitutional rights.” 181 F.3d 339, 357 (3d Cir. 1999). Readers should note that a Carter v. City of Philadelphia, substantially similar instruction was given in a case in which the closely-divided Court Connick, held that the municipal defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law due to the plaintiff’s failure to prove a pattern of similar violations. Because states that such a pattern is Connick ordinarily needed in order to establish deliberate indifference in connection with a failure-to-train claim, Instruction 4.6.7 no longer tracks the instruction precisely: The second element no Carter longer offers as an alternative a finding that the situation a difficult For the “involved choice.” narrow range of cases in which no pattern of similar violations is necessary, Instruction 4.6.7 can be modified.
foreseeable: “[I]t may happen that in light of the duties assigned to specific officers or employees the need for more or different training is so obvious, and the inadequacy so likely to result in the violation of constitutional rights, that the policymakers of the city can reasonably be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the need.” City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 390. In a post-Connick case, Thomas v. Cumberland County, 749 F.3d 217 (3d Cir. 2014), the court of appeals found the evidence sufficient for the claim to go to a jury under this standard. It held that “a reasonable jury could conclude based on the frequency of fights and the volatile nature of the prison” that the county was deliberately indifferent based on its failure to provide training in conflict de-escalation. The Third Circuit has previously applied a three-part test to determine whether “a municipality's failure to train or supervise to amount[s] to deliberate indifference”: Under this test, “it must be shown that (1) municipal policymakers know that employees will confront a particular situation; (2) the situation involves a difficult choice or a history of employees mishandling; and (3) the wrong choice by an employee will frequently cause deprivation of constitutional rights.” Carter v. City of Philadelphia, 181 F.3d 339, 357 (3d Cir. 1999). Readers should note that a substantially similar instruction was given in Connick, a case in which the closely-divided Court held that the municipal defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law due to the plaintiff’s failure to prove a pattern of similar violations. Because Connick states that such a pattern is ordinarily needed in order to establish deliberate indifference in connection with a failure-to-train claim, Instruction 4.6.7 no longer tracks the Carter instruction precisely: The second element no longer offers as an alternative a finding that the situation “involved a difficult choice.” For the narrow range of cases in which no pattern of similar violations is necessary, Instruction 4.6.7 can be modified.
4_Chap_4_2014_fall.docx