Starr

Opinion by Judge WILLIAM A. FLETCHER; Dissent by Judge TROTT.

ORDER

The opinion filed on February 11, 2011, and published at 633 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir.2011), is withdrawn and replaced by the attached opinion.

The petitions for rehearing and for rehearing en banc, filed February 25, 2011, are hereby denied as moot.

No new petitions for rehearing or petitions for rehearing en banc shall be accepted in this case. However, any member of this court may make a sua sponte en banc call challenging the opinion filed today.

OPINION

Plaintiff Dion Starr brings a § 1983 action for damages resulting from a violent attack he allegedly suffered while he was an inmate in the Los Angeles County Jail. The district court dismissed Starr’s supervisory liability claim for deliberate indifference against Sheriff Leroy Baca in his individual capacity under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Because we hold that Starr has adequately stated a claim, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. Background

Starr’s Third Amended Complaint alleges that on or about January 27, 2006, he was in custody in the Los Angeles County Jail. A group of inmates gathered at his cell door and threatened to…

Dissenting:

I respect my experienced colleagues’ evaluation of Starr’s final complaint, but my view of it is different. In the main, his complaint has all the hallmarks of an attempted end run around the prohibition against using the vicarious liability doctrine of respondeat superior to get at the boss.

Judge Fletcher accurately describes what Starr must allege to support an actionable claim of individual supervisory liability for deliberate indifference, but I respectfully disagree that Starr’s complaint measures up to that standard. Yes, we have held that “acquiescence or culpable indifference” may suffice to show that a supervisor “personally played a role in the alleged constitutional violations,” Menotti v. City of Seattle, 409 F.3d 1113, 1149 (9th Cir.2005); but simply alleging generally that the Sheriff is “answerable for the prisoner’s safe-keeping” doesn’t cut it. Id. Plaintiffs complaint does nothing more than allege raw legal conclusions with insufficient facts to support them. Starr’s complaint runs afoul of our Circuit’s rule that to establish a claim for individual supervisory liability, a plaintiff must allege facts, not simply conclusions; and those facts must…