Cloutier v. Town of Epping

MEMORANDUM

NORTHROP, Senior District Judge, Sitting by Designation.

Prologue

Some general observations on the state of the law in reference to municipalities and their officers is appropriate before applying the law to the operative facts of this case.

There is no question that the decisions of Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) and Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980) have opened wide the gates of Section 1983 liability of municipalities based on an “enterprise” theory, whatever that…