F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FEB 8 1999
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
CLARENCE MICHAEL PAUL,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 98-6202
(D.C. No. CIV-95-1469)
CITY OF ALTUS, (W.D. Okla.)
Defendant-Appellee,
and
JOHN DOE; JACKSON COUNTY
MEMORIAL HOSPITAL; GEORGE
ANDREWS; TODD GILPATRICK;
RANDALL HOWLAND; RONALD
MYERS; CHARLES DIGIACOMO;
MIKE WHITE;
Defendants.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before PORFILIO , BALDOCK , and HENRY , Circuit Judges.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument.
Plaintiff Clarence Michael Paul’s action against defendant City of Altus
[“the city”] is based on an alleged failure to adequately train its police officers
who had allegedly violated plaintiff’s constitutional rights and is brought pursuant
to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The district
court granted summary judgment in favor of the city, but the case against the
individual officers went to trial. See Appellant’s App. at 98-101. A jury found
in favor of the officers. See Appellee’s Supp. App. at 30. On appeal, this court
affirmed the verdict in favor of the officers but overturned the summary judgment
in favor of the city because we determined that an issue of material fact existed as
to whether the city had failed to properly train the officers. See id. at 29-34.
Because we did not know the basis of the jury’s verdict in favor of the officers,
we could not say whether the case against the city had been mooted by that
verdict. See id. at 30. We therefore remanded the cause and instructed the
district court to review the jury instructions and verdict form to determine the
basis of the jury’s verdict. If the court determined that the jury found the officers
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did not commit a constitutional violation, we instructed the court to dismiss the
case against the city. See id. at 30-31.
On remand, the court followed our instructions and stated that it was clear
that the jury found no constitutional violations. Accordingly, the court dismissed
plaintiff’s action against the city. See id. at 36-37. In the appeal at bar, plaintiff
erroneously argues that in order for the district court to properly dismiss his
action against the city, the court first had to find that plaintiff initially did not
have a claim against the city. See Appellant’s Br. at 4. We hold that the district
court properly followed our instructions on remand, and, having determined that
the jury found that the officers did not violate plaintiff’s constitutional rights,
properly dismissed plaintiff’s case against the city.
The judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District
of Oklahoma is AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Bobby R. Baldock
Circuit Judge
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