Fetus Cornwell, and Brenda Cornwell v. City of Riverside, and Carmen Andrade Gary Crawford Benjamin Reiser Jackie Bell Richard Bradley

This appeal from an order of the district court staying the collection of damages in a civil rights case presents a new question of law: Can a plaintiff successful in an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and awarded punitive damages by the jury compel their payment to be made by the individual defendants rather than by the city that employed them? We agree with the district court that there is no federal prohibition against the city paying the punitive damages.

FACTS

Brenda Cornwell brought a successful civil rights action against five police officers employed by the city of Riverside, California. In addition to general damages, the jury awarded punitive damages which, by remittitur, were reduced to a total of $45,000.

Under a California statute enacted in 1985 a public entity other than the state is authorized to pay punitive damages awarded against its employees if the public entity finds that the employees were acting within the course of their employment, in good faith and “in the apparent best interests of the public entity,” and the payment would be “in the best interests of the public entity.” Cal.Gov.Code § 825(b) (West Supp. 1986-1990). When the City of Riverside offered…