US-CA11 · jury_instructions
11th Cir. Pattern Jury Instr. (Civil) 5.10
Civil Rights – 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Claims – Government Entity Liability
(Incorporate into Instructions for Claims against Individual Defendants)
[Name of plaintiff] claims that [name of government entity], which
employed [name of officer], is liable for violating [name of plaintiff]’s
constitutional rights. You should consider whether [name of government entity] is
liable only if you find that [name of officer] violated [name of plaintiff]’s
constitutional rights.
[Name of government entity] is not liable for violating [name of plaintiff]’s
constitutional rights simply because it employed [name of officer]. Rather, [name
of government entity] is liable if [name of plaintiff] proves that an official policy
or custom of [name of government entity] directly caused [his/her] injuries. Put
another way, [name of government entity] is liable if its official policy or custom
was the moving force behind [name of plaintiff]’s injuries.
An “official policy or custom” means:
(a) A rule or regulation created, adopted, or ratified by [name of
government entity]; or
(b) A policy statement or decision made by [name of government
entity]’s policy-maker; or
(c) A practice or course of conduct that is so widespread that it
has acquired the force of law—even if the practice has not been formally
2
approved.
You may find that an “official policy or custom” existed if there was a
practice that was so persistent, widespread, or repetitious that the [name of
government entity]’s policy-maker either knew of it or should have known of it.
[Name of policy-maker] is the [name of government entity]’s “policy-maker.”
NOTE: Model Jury Interrogatory Forms may be found in the
appendices after the last civil rights jury instruction (Pattern Instruction 5.13) for
use in actions brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983. Three types of Model Jury
Interrogatory Forms are provided: (A) a simplified Interrogatory Form for use in
most civil right actions; (B) an Interrogatory Form for use in actions that do not
require application of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and (C) an
Interrogatory Form for use in actions that do require application of the Prison
Litigation Reform Act.
Provenance
- Source
- ca11.uscourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-20
- Edition
- civil-2025-12
- Content hash
c344fd42183eb0f7c7e32141e08ae268fbfccc5fe07f78817b431694e0e4caed
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