Charlene Leatherman, et al. v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit, et al.

Decided March 3, 1993. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-1657 · 507 U.S. 163 (1993) · Cited 2,968 times

Holding

A federal court may not apply a “heightened pleading standard”— more stringent than the usual pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)—in civil rights cases alleging municipal liability under § 1983.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Conley v. Gibson · 355 U.S. 41 (1957)
• City of Canton v. Harris · 489 U.S. 378 (1989)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• United States v. Gaubert · 499 U.S. 315 (1991)
• Owen v. City of Independence · 445 U.S. 622 (1980)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A. · 534 U.S. 506 (2002)
• Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd. · 551 U.S. 308 (2007)
• Manuel v. City of Joliet · 580 U.S. 357 (2017)
• Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools · 580 U.S. 154 (2017)
• Jones v. Bock · 549 U.S. 199 (2007)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Christopher v. Harbury · 536 U.S. 403 (2002)
• TRW Inc. v. Andrews · 534 U.S. 19 (2001)
• Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr · 518 U.S. 668 (1996)
• Anza v. Ideal Steel Supply Corp. · 547 U.S. 451 (2006)
• Hemi Group, LLC v. City of New York · 559 U.S. 1 (2010)
• Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co. · 537 U.S. 149 (2003)
• O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake · 518 U.S. 712 (1996)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).