Debra Eggar and Roger L. Nuttbrock v. City of Livingston

Debra Eggar and Roger L. Nuttbrock appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Livingston, Montana (“the City”) as well as the court’s dismissal of their claims for injunctive and declaratory relief. Eggar and Nuttbrock brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against the City and Judge Travis, alleging the City had a policy of imprisoning indigent defendants without offering appointed counsel and without securing an effective waiver of the right to counsel. Eggar subsequently moved for class certification, alleging that from January 1989 to February 1992, the City jailed 229 persons who had no legal representation. The motion was denied. In November 1992 the court granted the City’s motion for summary judgment on the damage claim, concluding the plaintiffs failed, as a matter of law, to demonstrate Judge Travis was a city policy maker or that he followed a city policy of denying counsel to indigents. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

BACKGROUND

On February 22, 1991, Eggar appeared before Judge Travis for a second offense of driving under the influence of alcohol, a crime carrying a mandatory prison sentence in Montana. Eggar alleges Judge…