County Not Responsible On Civil Rights Violations For Fake Letters Written By Its Employee For Personal Reasons.

A correctional officer accessed information about various jail inmates and wrote fake letters to those inmates, signing the name of another inmate who had brought a personal injury lawsuit against the correctional officer. The inmate whose name was used in the letters brought a lawsuit against the county for the actions of the correctional officer, a county employee. The trial court ruled on demurrer that appellant had not stated a cause of action for civil rights violations against the County for failure to train and supervise its employee and on summary judgment that the County was not liable to appellant for its employee’s actions under the respondeat superior doctrine. The Court of Appeal affirmed, stating the correctional officer was not acting within the scope of his employment when he wrote the fake letters. Perry v. County of Fresno (Cal. App. Fifth Dist.; April 3, 2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 94.