TTH Attorneys Matt Clayberger and Adam Kleiber recently won an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  The appeal arose from a Section 1983 lawsuit in which Plaintiff alleged that law enforcement officials falsely arrested him for suspected involvement in an identity-theft ring.  Attorneys Clayberger and Kleiber represented a local Pennsylvania county.  Among various other claims, Plaintiff asserted a municipal liability claim against TT&H’s client, alleging that the county had a policy or practice of failing to properly train prosecutors as to the performance of criminal investigations.  At the District Court level, Attorneys Clayberger and Kleiber argued that Plaintiff had failed to identify a county policy or procedure that led to Plaintiff’s alleged constitutional deprivation.  The District Court agreed and dismissed Plaintiff’s claims against the county, with prejudice.

Following this decision, Plaintiff filed an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  In Plaintiff’s initial appellate filings, Plaintiff named the county as an appellee.  Plaintiff, however, failed to develop any argument relating to municipal liability.  Instead, Plaintiff’s arguments focused exclusively on the conduct of various law enforcement officers who had no affiliation with the county.  Accordingly, Matt and Adam argued that Plaintiff had waived his appeal with respect to the county.  They also argued that the Supreme Court of the United States has held that failure to train prosecutors on legal issues does not give rise to a municipal liability claim because prosecutors are presumed to be legally trained.  A three-judge panel of the Third Circuit agreed with Matt and Adam’s argument and held that Plaintiff had waived his right to appeal with respect to the county.  The panel further held that Plaintiff had failed to state a claim as a matter of law.  As such, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s Order dismissing the county.

Questions about this case can be directed to Matt Clayberger at 717.237.7150 or mclayberger@tthlaw.com, or to Adam Kleiber at 717.237.7157 or akleiber@tthlaw.com