Miami Township Board of Trustees v. Roger Dean Gillispie, et al.

Ohio Revised Code § 2744.07(B) requires a political subdivision to indemnify an employee for certain qualifying judgments. This includes civil-rights judgments under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Ohio Rev. Code § 2744.09. The statute places no cap or limit on the indemnification and provides no mechanism for local subdivisions (which have limited authority to raise and spend money) to receive necessary funds from the State. Miami Township, Ohio has been ordered to indemnify a $45 million Section 1983 judgment against a former employee – an amount more than 10 times the Township’s General Fund annual budget. Miami Township argued below that, as applied, such an immediate and unconditional indemnification requirement amounts to an imposition of respondeat superior liability on the Township, even though this Court has held that § 1983 does not countenance respondeat superior liability for local government entities. See Monell v. Department of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 691 (1978) (“[A] municipality cannot be held liable under § 1983 on a respondeat superior theory.”). The question presented is: Whether, as applied, Ohio Revised Code § 2744.07(B) violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution because it creates de facto respondeat superior liability forbidden by Section 1983 and thereby is preempted by Section 1983.