Myra Jo Collins v. City of Harker Heights, Texas.

Decided February 26, 1992. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-1279 · 503 U.S. 115 (1992) · Cited 3,302 times

Holding

Because a city’s customary failure to train or warn its employees about known hazards in the workplace does not violate the Due Process Clause, § 1983 does not provide a remedy for a municipal employee who is fatally injured in the course of his employment as a result of the city’s failure.

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)
• City of Canton v. Harris · 489 U.S. 378 (1989)
• Daniels v. Williams · 474 U.S. 327 (1986)
• DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services · 489 U.S. 189 (1989)
• City of Oklahoma v. Tuttle · 471 U.S. 808 (1985)
• Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati · 475 U.S. 469 (1986)
• City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik · 485 U.S. 112 (1988)
• Bishop v. Wood · 426 U.S. 341 (1976)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Parratt v. Taylor · 451 U.S. 527 (1981)
• Turner v. Safley · 482 U.S. 78 (1987)
• Baker v. McCollan · 443 U.S. 137 (1979)
• Paul v. Davis · 424 U.S. 693 (1976)
• Rochin v. California · 342 U.S. 165 (1952)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Youngberg v. Romeo Ex Rel. Romeo · 457 U.S. 307 (1982)
• Hutto v. Finney · 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
• Bell v. Burson · 402 U.S. 535 (1971)
• Davidson v. Cannon · 474 U.S. 344 (1986)
• City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital · 463 U.S. 239 (1983)
• Martinez v. California · 444 U.S. 277 (1980)
• Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing · 474 U.S. 214 (1985)
• City of Springfield v. Kibbe · 480 U.S. 257 (1987)

Cited by

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

• County of Sacramento v. Lewis · 523 U.S. 833 (1998)
• Albright v. Oliver · 510 U.S. 266 (1994)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Kerry v. Din · 576 U.S. 86 (2015)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Washington v. Glucksberg · 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
• District Attorney's Office for the Third Judicial District v. Osborne · 557 U.S. 52 (2009)
• Philip Morris USA v. Williams · 549 U.S. 346 (2007)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization · 597 U.S. 215 (2022)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• Troxel v. Granville · 530 U.S. 57 (2000)
• Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture · 553 U.S. 591 (2008)
• City of Chicago v. Morales · 527 U.S. 41 (1999)
• Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District · 524 U.S. 274 (1998)
• Chavez v. Martinez · 538 U.S. 760 (2003)
• Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).