Section 1983 Actions

42 USC § 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

• Section 1983 Litigation (PDF size-375k), Karen M. Blum, Suffolk University Law School, Kathyn R. Urbonya, The College of William and Mary School of Law
• In O'Conner v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 95 S.Ct. 2486, (1975), the United States Supreme Court held hospital employees were liable for involuntarily committing someone who was not a danger to self or others
• In Noble v. Schmitt, 87 F.3d 157 (6th Cir. 1996), the Sixth Circuit held that employees of the state hospital were not immune from a § 1983 claim if they force medicated someone for improper reasons.

Last modified 8/31/2005