The district judge directed a verdict in favor of Caroline Dufrin, after which the jury awarded her damages of $47,500 plus interest and costs, resulting in a final judgment of $55,899. The trial judge relied on four cases in his oral opinion directing a verdict in favor of Dufrin: Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979); Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (2d Cir. 1979), vacated and remanded, 446 U.S. 903, 100 S.Ct. 1827, 64 L.Ed.2d 256 (1980) (for further consideration in light of Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980)); Tinetti v. Wittke, 479 F. Supp. 486 (E.D.Wis. 1979), aff'd, 620 F.2d 160 (7th Cir. 1980) (per curiam); Logan v. Shealy, 660 F.2d 1007 (4th Cir. 1981), cert. denied sub nom. Clements v. Logan, 455 U.S. 942, 102 S.Ct. 1435, 71 L.Ed.2d 653 (1982).
The District argues, nonetheless, that imposition of liability on the School District would similarly deter creative and effective decision-making, since conscientious board members are as concerned about board liability as about personal liability. Indeed, the Second Circuit has accepted a similar argument. See Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207, 210-11 (2d Cir. 1979). However, as a statement of purported psychological fact, we find that assertion unpersuasive.
The last question is whether the qualified good faith immunity, if successfully asserted by the individual defendants, may inure to the benefit of the governmental defendants. Although Monell held that local governments could not enjoy an absolute immunity under § 1983, the Court expressly left undefined the scope of any official immunity such bodies might have. 436 U.S. at 701, 98 S.Ct. 2018. The only three courts to consider this question since Monell have reached conflicting results. Compare Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (2d Cir. 1979) and Bertot v. School District No. 1, (10th Cir. Nov. 15, 1978) (unpublised opinion) (both holding that governmental bodies enjoy qualified immunity to same extent individual defendants do) with Schuman v. City of Philadelphia, 470 F. Supp. 449, 463-64 (E.D.Pa. 1979) (good faith immunity not available where policy of a municipality under attack, distinguishing Bertot). No case in this circuit is directly on point. See Hostrop, supra, 523 F.2d at 577-79 (individual defendants successfully established good faith immunity under § 1983, but school board liable under 28 U.S.C. § 1331).
The Courts of Appeals are divided on the question whether local governmental units are entitled to a qualified immunity based on the good faith of their officials. Compare Bertot v. School Dist. No. 1, 613 F.2d 245 (CA10 1979) (en banc), Hostrop v. Board of Junior College Dist. No. 515, 523 F.2d 569 (CA7 1975), and Hander v. San Jacinto Jr. College, 519 F.2d 273 (CA5), rehearing denied, 522 F.2d 204 (1975), all refusing to extend a qualified immunity to the governmental entity, with Paxman v. Campbell, 612 F.2d 848 (CA4 1980) (en banc), and Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (CA2 1979), granting defendants a "good-faith" immunity. III
As indicated earlier, we do not give as much weight to the difference in sites as did the district court. We note, in addition, that applications were made to the Connecticut courts for orders banning weapons at these rallies, such orders were obtained, and whatever their proper textual construction, the defendants were justified in an objectively reasonable belief that the court orders authorized most of the searches that were conducted. Finally, and in any event, we do not deem the law applicable to the unique and difficult problem presented to the defendants by these historically unprecedented Klan rallies in Connecticut so adequately clear and settled as to warrant an award of damages under the rule of Harlow v. Fitzgerald. See Sec. Law Enforcement Emp., Dist. C. 82 v. Carey, 737 F.2d 187, 210-11 (2d Cir. 1984); Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207, 209 (2d Cir. 1979), vacated on other grounds, 446 U.S. 903, 100 S.Ct. 1827, 64 L.Ed.2d 256 (1980). The applications for state court orders pursued with respect to these rallies satisfied many of the concerns to which the traditional warrant requirement of the fourth amendment is directed.
See supra notes 6 and 7, and cases there cited. In this circuit, although we have not directly ruled on the precise issue presented in this case, we have variously described "the indignities of a rectal search," Sostre v. Preiser, 519 F.2d 763, 764 (2d Cir. 1975), as "insensitive, demeaning and stupid," Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207, 211 (2d Cir. 1979), vacated and remanded, 446 U.S. 903, 100 S.Ct. 1827, 64 L.Ed.2d 256 (1980), "degrading," and a "major invasion into privacy." Security and Law Enforcement Employees v. Carey, 737 F.2d 187, 208 (2d Cir. 1984). It may be true, as appellees argue, that there is not "one case which prohibited body cavity searches of people [sic] charged with resisting arrest.
The district court ruled, after a careful analysis of Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1977), and other cases, that "the City's good faith role in this action, thus precludes the existence of a claim against the City." Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (2d Cir. 1979), vacated, 446 U.S. 903, 100 S.Ct. 1827, 64 L.Ed.2d 256 (1980); Owen v. City of Independence, 589 F.2d 335 (8th Cir. 1978), rev'd, 445 U.S. 622, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980); Bertot v. School District No. 1, Albany County, Wyoming, 47 U.S.L.W. 2336 (10th Cir. November 15, 1978). This was, in effect, a dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."
This case is therefore unlike Monell, where the challenged official policy and conduct was embodied in a municipal regulation, leaving for the fact finder only the questions of whether the policy caused the injury to the plaintiff there and whether the municipality was entitled to some sort of qualified immunity, an issue left unanswered by Monell. See Owen v. City of Independence, Mo., 589 F.2d 335 (8th Cir. 1978), cert. granted, 48 U.S.L.W. 3217 (1979);Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (2d Cir. 1979); Bertot v. School District, No. 1, Albany County, Wyoming, 613 F.2d 245 (10th Cir. 1979) (en banc); Paxman v. Campbell, 612 F.2d 848 (4th Cir. 1979) (en banc); Huemmer v. Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, 474 F.Supp. 704 (D.Md. 1979); Ohland v. City of Montpelier, 467 F.Supp. 324 (D.Va. 1979); Gross v. Pomerleau, 465 F.Supp. 1167 (D.Md. 1979); Shuman v. City of Philadelphia, 470 F.Supp. 449 (E.D.Pa. 1979). In Owen v. City of Independence, Mo., 589 F.2d 335 (8th Cir. 1978), cert. granted, 48 U.S. L.W. 3217 (1979), an official policy was found not in an ordinance or regulation but rather in the official conduct of the City in discharging its police chief.
Accordingly, we are of opinion and hold that the defendant school officials connected with Henrico and Albemarle Counties, in their official capacities, are immune from the claims of backpay because they acted in good faith without knowledge that the acts they took would violate the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, and because they did not act with malicious intent.Sala v. County of Suffolk, 604 F.2d 207 (2d Cir. 1979), decided while our case was pending, is consistent with this opinion. VI
" Id. at 241-42 [ 94 S.Ct. at 1689]. 604 F.2d 207, 210-11 (2d Cir. 1979), vacated on other grounds, 446 U.S. 903, 100 S.Ct. 1827, 64 L.Ed.2d 256 (1980) (no good faith defense for strip search performed pursuant to county policy); see also Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 654-57, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 1417-19, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1979) (Supreme Court explained why the two rationales failed to support affording municipalities absolute or qualified immunity); Ohland v. City of Montpelier, 467 F. Supp. 324, 341-46 (D.Ver. 1979) (district court intelligently outlined policy concerns underlying municipal immunity pursuant to Monell). This Court holds that Monell -type immunity should not extend to private hospitals that act under color of state law to detain potentially dangerous mentally ill individuals.