In Monell v. New York City, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S. Ct. 2018, 56 L. Ed. 2d 611 (1978), the United States Supreme Court concluded that a local government may not be sued under 1983 for an injury inflicted solely by its employees or agents. Instead, it is when execution of a government's policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury that the government as an entity is responsible under 1983. The United States Supreme Court held that municipalities and other local governmental entities are included among those persons to whom 1983 applies. However, in that same decision, the Court also held that a local governmental entity may not be held liable on a respondeat superior theory, stating that "instead, it is when execution of a government's policy or custom . . . inflicts the injury that the government as an entity is responsible under 1983." Monell, supra, 436 U.S. at 694 (II).