# Oden v. Oktibbeha County MS

> Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · March 27, 2001 · 246 F.3d 458

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9414064

## Case

- **Full name:** Jesse ODEN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI; Dolph Bryan, Individually and in His Official Capacity as Sheriff, Defendants-Appellants
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- **Decided:** March 27, 2001
- **Citations:** 246 F.3d 458; 81 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 40,677; 85 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1377; 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 4910; 2001 WL 293511
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Politz
- **Judges:** Politz, Smith, Parker
- **Cited by:** 203 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9414064

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that Title VII’s personal-staff exception must be pleaded as an affirmative defense
- finding that the sheriff, not the county, was the deputy sheriffs employer because the sheriff made all appointment, removal, and compensation decisions regarding deputies, subject to the county’s budget approval
- holding that assessment of punitive damages in a Title VII claim against a sheriff constituted plain error and reversing the award even though the appellants failed to properly preserve their objection
- holding that § 1981 creates a cause of action against private actors, but “[§ ] 1983 remains the only provision to expressly create a remedy against persons acting under color of state law”
- holding that Jett has not been legislatively overruled and that “Section 1983 remains the only provision to expressly create a remedy against persons acting under color of state law”

## Opinion text

POLITZ, Circuit Judge,
specially concurring:
I specially concur, but conclude that the more appropriate disposition of the 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (c) issue presented herein would be as that accorded by our colleagues in the Ninth Circuit in Federation of African American Contractors v. Oakland, 96 F.3dl204 (9th Cir.1996).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9414064. Public record. Not legal advice.