Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services

Monell v. City of New York Department of Social Services
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 2, 1972 Decided June 6, 1978
Full case name	Monell, et al. v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York et al.
Citations	436 U.S. 658 (more)
Holding
Municipalities can be held liable for violations of Constitutional rights through Section 1983 actions.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell, Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan, joined by Stewart, White, Marshall, Blackmun and Powell.
Concurrence	Powell
Concurrence	Stevens
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by Burger
Laws applied
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1 of the "Ku Klux Act" of April 20, 1871

Monell v. City of New York Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in which the Court overruled Monroe v. Pape in holding that local governments are "persons" under Section 1983.

The case began in July 1971 as a challenge to the New York City Board of Education's forced maternity leave policies. In a different lawsuit in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities were liable for damages under the Civil Rights Act. Following the decision, New York settled for $375,500, to be divided among all women employees placed on forced maternity leave from July 1968 to the time of the case being filed. New York increased the money available for compensations to $11 million after an unexpectedly large response from women to notices announcing the settlement. The claims were paid in the fall of 1981.

This resolution created a precedent that for the first time established local government accountability for unconstitutional acts and created the right to obtain damages from municipalities in such cases.