Opinion ID: 526494
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Due Process Guarantees After Parratt

Text: 28 The appellants contend that Easter House received all of the process which was due and that it cannot maintain a section 1983 action in light of the Supreme Court's pronouncements in the Parratt line of cases. In Parratt, the Supreme Court held that a random and unauthorized intentional deprivation of property by a state employee does not constitute a violation of the procedural requirements of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment if a meaningful post-deprivation remedy for the loss is available. We therefore must determine whether the appellants' alleged misconduct was both random and unauthorized and, if so, whether meaningful post-deprivation remedies exist to redress any losses suffered. We will begin our analysis by briefly reviewing the relevant Supreme Court holdings. 29
30 In Parratt, a state prisoner sued prison officials under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, alleging that their negligent loss of a hobby kit, which the prisoner had ordered from a mail-order catalog, deprived the prisoner of property without due process of law in violation of the fourteenth amendment. The Supreme Court disagreed, noting that nothing in the fourteenth amendment protects against all deprivations of life, liberty, or property, and instead prohibits only those deprivations which occur without due process of law. 451 U.S. at 537, 101 S.Ct. at 1914. The Court then rejected the proposition that a state is always required to provide a hearing prior to a deprivation. 451 U.S. at 540, 101 S.Ct. at 1915. The Court stated that: 31 either the necessity of quick action by the State or the impracticality of providing any meaningful deprivation process, when coupled with the availability of some meaningful means by which to assess the propriety of the State's action at some time after the initial taking ... satisf[ies] the requirements of procedural due process. 32 451 U.S. at 539, 101 S.Ct. at 1915 (footnote omitted). 33 The Court noted that the state had promulgated predeprivation procedures which were adequate to protect the plaintiff's property interests, but that the state employee failed to follow the established policy. 451 U.S. at 543, 101 S.Ct. at 1917. The Court concluded that situations involving a tortious loss of ... property as a result of a random and unauthorized act by a state employee, which by definition is not a loss resulting from some established state procedure, are beyond the state's control and cannot be predicted. 451 U.S. at 541, 101 S.Ct. at 1916. The Court consequently held that negligent deprivations which occur without a prior hearing do not violate the fourteenth amendment's due process clause as long as the state provides a meaningful post-deprivation remedy. 451 U.S. at 544, 101 S.Ct. at 1917. To hold otherwise, the Court opined, would result in turning every alleged injury which may have been inflicted by a state official acting under 'color of state law' into a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment under Sec. 1983, ... [and] 'would make of the Fourteenth Amendment a font of tort law to be superimposed upon whatever systems may already be administered by the States.'  451 U.S. at 544, 101 S.Ct. at 1917 (citations omitted). 34 The Court reaffirmed the Parratt rationale in Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U.S. 422, 102 S.Ct. 1148, 71 L.Ed.2d 265 (1982). In Logan, a plaintiff filed a timely charge of unlawful conduct with a state employment commission. According to state law, the commission then had 120 days in which to convene a fact-finding conference. However, through the commission's inadvertence, it scheduled the plaintiff's hearing five days beyond the jurisdictional deadline and subsequently refused to consider the claim. 35 The Supreme Court held that Parratt did not bar the plaintiff's section 1983 action, based upon the fourteenth amendment's due process clause, because the plaintiff was not challenging the commission's error. Instead, the Court believed that the plaintiff was challenging an inadequate  'established state procedure' that destroys his entitlement without according him proper procedural safeguards. 455 U.S. at 436, 102 S.Ct. at 1158. The Court noted that it is the state system itself that destroys a complainant's property interest, by operation of law, whenever the Commission fails to convene a timely conference.... 455 U.S. at 436, 102 S.Ct. at 1158. In contrast, Parratt dealt with a state agent's failure to follow otherwise adequate established state procedure. Id. The Court concluded that post-deprivation remedies do not satisfy due process where a deprivation of property is caused by conduct pursuant to established state procedure, rather than random and unauthorized action. Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 532, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 3203, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984) (footnote omitted) (interpreting Logan, 455 U.S. at 435-36, 102 S.Ct. at 1158). 36 Finally, in Hudson v. Palmer, the Court extended Parratt to cover the random and unauthorized intentional conduct of state employees. In that case, a federal inmate brought a section 1983 action against a correctional officer for depriving him of certain property without due process of law. During a shakedown of the plaintiff's cell, the officer apparently destroyed certain noncontraband personal items of the plaintiff. The Court found that the officer's intentional conduct fell within the Parratt doctrine. The Court reasoned that a state can no more anticipate and control in advance the random and unauthorized conduct of its employees than it can anticipate similar negligent conduct. Hudson, 468 U.S. at 533, 104 S.Ct. at 3203. It also rejected an argument that because an agent of the state who intends to deprive a person of his property 'can provide predeprivation process, then as a matter of due process he must do so.'  468 U.S. at 534, 104 S.Ct. at 3204 (emphasis in original). The Court believed that the controlling inquiry is whether the state is in a position to provide for predeprivation process. Id. 37
38 Easter House argues that the appellants' conduct cannot be characterized as random or as unauthorized under Parratt. It contends that Parratt and its progeny do not apply where a property deprivation results from the action of high-level state and local officials who are engaged in a conspiracy to violate a citizen's constitutional rights. This argument has three subparts: (1) that Parratt and its progeny are limited to minor deprivations of property; (2) that an intentional conspiracy can never be characterized as a random act; and (3) that the failure of high-level state employees, who are charged with providing the state's established due process protections, to grant admittedly practicable predeprivation relief automatically translates into an established state procedure and thus is per se authorized. Finally, Easter House suggests that, even assuming that the appellants' conduct may be characterized as random and unauthorized, no meaningful postdeprivation remedies exist to provide the requisite due process protection. We address each of these arguments separately. 39
40 Easter House relies upon Bretz v. Kelman, 773 F.2d 1026 (9th Cir.1985) (en banc), to support its contention that Parratt and Hudson only apply in cases involving minor deprivations of property. In Bretz, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, considered a plaintiff's claim that police, prosecutors, and various personal enemies conspired to accuse and prosecute him falsely for burglary. The court held that Parratt did not apply because it is directed at minor infractions of prisoner interests. Id. at 1031. Because the court was presented with a suit involving the deprivation of a liberty interest, it declined to apply Parratt. 13 41 At least one court has disagreed with the Bretz court's statement that Parratt and Hudson only address minor deprivations, whether deprivations of property or liberty interests. In Holloway v. Walker, 790 F.2d 1170 (5th Cir.1986), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals expressly rejected Bretz, stating, Nothing in Parratt or Hudson suggests that the holdings of these cases are confined to minor deprivations of ... property. If the Supreme Court intended to announce a constitutional rule of lex non curat de minimis, it would have said so. Id. at 1172. 14 42 We find Holloway more persuasive than Bretz. The Supreme Court's pronouncements in Parratt and Hudson do not lend themselves to limitations based upon the size and nature of the injuries suffered. Accord Kauth v. Hartford Ins. Co., 852 F.2d 951 (7th Cir.1988) (although not addressing this argument specifically, we applied Parratt to claims for damages in excess of $17,000.00). Further, we find it difficult to believe that the Supreme Court would base a constitutional principle solely upon the value of property involved and afford greater protection to persons possessing greater wealth of which they were deprived. Finally, an employee's actions are no less random or unauthorized because they result in an injury of greater monetary consequence. We therefore reject Easter House's attempt to place a de minimis limitation upon Parratt and Hudson.ii. Conspiracies as Random and Unauthorized Conduct 43 Easter House next contends that because the appellants' actions were undertaken as part of a conspiracy to deprive it of constitutionally protected rights, their conduct cannot be characterized as random under Parratt. Easter House again relies upon the Ninth Circuit's decision in Bretz, and finds further support in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Labov v. Lalley, 809 F.2d 220 (3d Cir.1987). 44 In Bretz, the Ninth Circuit was impressed by the plaintiff's decision to plead the existence of injuries resulting from a conspiracy by certain governmental officials to arrest and try him upon allegedly false burglary charges. With little discussion, it held that by definition, a conspiracy cannot be a random act, even if it was accomplished without the endorsement of the state governmental apparatus. 773 F.2d at 1031. 45 In Labov, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals considered a complaint which pleaded a conspiracy to deprive the plaintiff of substantive liberty interests under the first amendment. The court agreed with the Bretz court's holding, stating that Parratt and subsequent cases do not apply to charges of intentional conspiratorial conduct under color of state law. Such conduct, if it can be proved, is not the kind of isolated, unpredictable, and thus unpreventable conduct with which the Supreme Court purports to deal in the Parratt v. Taylor line of cases. 809 F.2d at 223 (citing Davidson v. O'Lone, 752 F.2d 817, 828 (3d Cir.1984), aff'd sub nom. Davidson v. Cannon, 474 U.S. 344, 106 S.Ct. 668, 88 L.Ed.2d 677 (1986)). 46 In contrast, the Fifth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal rejected the Bretz court's per se conspiracy rule. In Holloway, the Fifth Circuit held that a conspiracy in fact may be a random act if, [f]rom the point of view of the state[,] ... the state cannot anticipate or control such conduct in advance. 790 F.2d at 1172 (citing Hudson, 468 U.S. at 533, 104 S.Ct. at 3203). The court reasoned, Of course, a conspiracy is not random from the point of view of the conspirators but this is to say no more than that a conspiracy is an intentional act, rather than a negligent one. The effect of the Ninth Circuit's holding is to revive the intentional/negligent act distinction, rejected in Hudson, in another form. Id.; accord Fields v. Durham, 856 F.2d 655, 657 (4th Cir.1988), pet. for cert. filed (Dec. 12, 1988). Similarly, in National Communications Sys., Inc. v. Michigan Public Service Comm'n, 789 F.2d 370, 372-73 (6th Cir.1986), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a per se conspiracy rule, likewise reasoning that a conspiracy allegation is merely another form of intentional conduct which Parratt clearly addresses after Hudson. 47 We again agree with the Fifth Circuit's reading of Parratt and Hudson. The focus always must be whether, from the state's point of view, the employees' actions were random and unauthorized. Whether the injuries suffered resulted from the concerted actions of several state employees or merely the action of a single employee is irrelevant. Only if a plaintiff can demonstrate that the substantive nature of the alleged improper conduct was either authorized or not random do Parratt and Hudson become inapplicable. As the Supreme Court noted in Hudson, intentional acts are even more difficult to anticipate because one bent on intentionally depriving a person of his property might well take affirmative steps to avoid signalling his intent. 468 U.S. at 533, 104 S.Ct. at 3203-04. We believe that this rationale may apply even more strongly when the intentional conduct alleged involves a full-blown, multi-facted conspiracy. We therefore reject Easter House's reliance upon an absolute rule that a conspiracy is per se non-random conduct. 48 Nevertheless, Easter House also apparently believes that because the alleged licensing conspiracy had two separate prongs, the renewal application and the Easter House II charter application, then the conspiracy involved multiple acts which even under a traditional Parratt inquiry takes the conspiracy outside the realm of random. However, from the state's perspective, this characterization of the alleged scheme is inaccurate. Both prongs of the single conspiracy operated simultaneously. The state had no opportunity to discover that the appellants were disregarding the established state procedures for renewing licenses and granting charter applications. 49 Easter House cannot demonstrate that the appellants' actions, even if involving a conspiracy to destroy Easter House, were anything but a single instance of improper conduct involving multiple employees engaged in a single scheme for a relatively short period of time. The licensing conspiracy remains nothing more than a random decision of state employees to disregard state policy and procedure which resulted in injuries to Easter House. As a result, Easter House has failed to demonstrate how the existence of a conspiracy removes this case from the dictates of Parratt. 50 iii. Employee Status and the Definition of Random and Unauthorized Conduct 51 Easter House next argues that the appellants' status as high-level state employees or officials automatically renders Parratt inapplicable. It believes that the actions of such employees cannot be characterized as either random or as unauthorized. We thus must determine whether Parratt contemplates an employment status-conscious exception to its application. 52 In Taverez v. O'Malley, 826 F.2d 671 (7th Cir.1987), we noted that the phrase random and unauthorized may be interpreted both narrowly and broadly. When read narrowly, the phrase merely identifies the situation where a predeprivation remedy is infeasible because the officials authorized to grant such a hearing are unaware of the deprivation before it occurs. Id. at 677; see also Matthiessen v. Board of Educ., 857 F.2d 404, 407 n. 3 (7th Cir.1988); Wilson v. Civil Town of Clayton, 839 F.2d 375, 380 (7th Cir.1988). This may be because 'the person committing the unconstitutional act may be employed at such a low level of state or local government that the official authorized to grant a pre-deprivation hearing would be unaware of the person's actions.'  Matthiessen, 857 F.2d at 407 n. 3 (quoting Wilson, 839 F.2d at 380). 53 However, when interpreted more broadly, the phrase may place[ ] beyond the reach of section 1983 any loss that 'is not a result of some established state procedure,' [Parratt,] 451 U.S. at 541, 101 S.Ct. at 1916, even if the loss might have been averted by a predeprivation hearing. Tavarez, 826 F.2d at 677; see also Matthiessen, 857 F.2d at 407 n. 3; Wilson, 839 F.2d at 380. In such a case the state cannot predict when a loss will occur. Matthiessen, 857 F.2d at 407 n. 3 (citing Wilson, 839 F.2d at 380); see Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 339-40, 106 S.Ct. 662, 678-79, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986) (Stevens, J., concurring) ([A] complaint does not state a valid procedural due process objection--and a valid Sec. 1983 claim--if it does not include a challenge to the fundamental fairness of the State's procedures.... [I]f a procedural due process claim lacks a colorable objection to the validity of the State's procedures, no constitutional violation has been alleged. (footnote omitted)). 54 In Tavarez, as well as in Matthiessen, we intimated that perhaps a narrower reading of Parratt might be wise to protect the important purposes which section 1983 serves. However, in Kauth v. Hartford Ins. Co., 852 F.2d 951 (7th Cir.1988) (considering Parratt 's application to both procedural and substantive due process claims), we also recognized that we must give meaning to the policies underlying Parratt and subsequent cases--that is, the stated purpose of discouraging the use of section 1983 as a supertort remedy to supplant existing state remedial procedures. We therefore must apply Parratt in a manner which balances these competing interests. 55 Easter House argues that a very narrow reading of Parratt is appropriate because of the employment status of the state employees involved. It correctly notes that Parratt is based upon the principle that a state should not be held accountable for deprivations when a predeprivation hearing is impracticable. It then contends that, because the appellants were high-ranking state and local officials who had the authority to provide the due process protections which the state had put in place, their failure to provide these protections cannot be characterized as random and unauthorized conduct. 56 In Hudson, the Supreme Court addressed a very similar argument. There, the Court stated: 57 [The plaintiff] contends that, because an agent of the state who intends to deprive a person of his property can provide predeprivation process, then as a matter of law he must do so. ... This argument reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Parratt. There, we held that postdeprivation procedures satisfy due process because the state cannot possibly know in advance of a negligent deprivation or property. Whether an individual employee himself is able to foresee a deprivation is simply of no consequence. The controlling inquiry is solely whether the state is in a position to provide for predeprivation process. 58 468 U.S. at 534, 104 S.Ct. at 3204 (emphasis in original). 59 In Parratt, the Court did not face a situation where high ranking officials had refused to follow adequate state procedures. Nevertheless, the Court noted that an adequate state procedure existed and that a person who, regardless of rank, could have provided the protection chose not to do so. 451 U.S. at 531, 543-44, 101 S.Ct. at 1910, 1917. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and more recently the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, have interpreted Hudson and Parratt as foreclosing the per se status-conscious exception argument which Easter House makes today. 60 In Holloway, the Fifth Circuit held that Parratt and Hudson are not confined to the actions of low level state employees who lack the power to grant a hearing. 790 F.2d at 1173. The court went on to state: 61 If laws and regulations providing due process exist in theory but are systematically ignored in fact then clearly a deprivation of liberty or property, though technically unauthorized by these laws, would not be random. On the other hand, if the state system, by procedure and in ordinary practice, does in fact provide the plaintiff with due process, no violation of the guarantee contained in the national constitution occurs merely because the official who randomly deprives him of liberty or property without the hearing required by state law has the power to grant such a hearing. 62 Id. In effect, the Fifth Circuit decided that a broader reading of Parratt was appropriate. 63 In Fields, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals adopted the Fifth Circuit's rationale. In that case, the Fourth Circuit considered a plaintiff-college dean's claim that the college president, the college, the board of trustees, the Mayor of Baltimore, and the Baltimore City Council violated his due process rights by their failure to follow the procedures required by the college's bylaws and the terms of his employment agreement in connection with his discharge. 856 F.2d at 656. The court rejected the plaintiff's attempts to distinguish Parratt and Hudson because the defendants in his case were high-ranking officials who were charged with the responsibility of providing the due process protections which the state had guaranteed in writing. 64 The Fourth Circuit discussed and adopted the Holloway court's analysis, stating, High-ranking officials are bound by the rule of law and their departures therefrom, no less than those of others, are subject to the Parratt holding. The theory of Parratt--that the states possess the primary opportunity to redress unauthorized deprivations of property interests--applies [to such] alleged deprivations in full force. Id. at 659. The Sixth Circuit apparently agrees with these courts' reading of Parratt. See National Communications Sys., 789 F.2d at 372-73 (court stating that Parratt applies to conspiratorial acts where the alleged conspirators are the public officials whose duty it was to see that plaintiffs were not denied due process). 65 We believe that the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal have correctly refused to focus solely upon the employment status of the state employee in determining the applicability of Parratt. The inquiry which the Supreme Court deems relevant is whether the employee's actions were random and unauthorized from the state's perspective, not whether the employee held any certain position in the governmental hierarchy. Thus, we refuse to hold that Parratt and its progeny do not apply in cases involving a high-ranking state or local official's failure to provide the due process protection when that official has the authority and duty to do so. 66 Easter House cannot demonstrate that the appellants alleged improper activity was anything other than a random occurrence. It points to nothing which indicates that the state knew or should have known that the appellants or other state employees had disregarded, or were likely to disregard, the state's formal policy and established procedure under these circumstances thereby perhaps implicitly authorizing the transgressions. Thus, the state could not foresee the appellants' actions or formulate procedures to safeguard against their actions. We therefore conclude that Parratt controls regardless of the appellants' employment status. 67 Easter House next argues that even under a broader reading of Parratt, which requires proof that a loss occurred because the state itself adopted an inadequate policy or procedure, the employment status of the appellants renders Parratt inapplicable. It asserts that the single act of a sufficiently high-ranking policymaker may equate with or be deemed established state procedure.... See, e.g., Matthiessen, 857 F.2d at 407 n. 3; Taverez, 826 F.2d at 677; see also Dwyer v. Regan, 777 F.2d 825, 832-33 (2d Cir.1985); Stana v. School Dist. of City of Pittsburgh, 775 F.2d 122, 130 (3d Cir.1985); Bretz, 773 F.2d at 1031; Fetner v. City of Roanoke, 813 F.2d 1183, 1185 (11th Cir.1987) (rationale reaffirmed by a plurality of the court, sitting en banc, in Burch v. Apalachee Community Mental Health Services, 840 F.2d 797, 801-02 (11th Cir.1988)). Easter House contends that the appellants qualify as sufficiently high-placed policymakers whose allegedly improper conduct constitutes an inadequate established state procedure under Logan, thereby precluding the application of Parratt, even though the conduct contravened formal state policy and procedure as expressed in written statutes, regulations, and procedural manuals. See Matthiessen, 857 F.2d at 407 n. 3. 68 We do not disagree that the acts of a state employee are attributable to the state itself. However, in the Parratt analysis, this principle means nothing more than an employee acts under color of state law during the performance of his job-related duties. The issue is whether a single act of employee misconduct, which clearly contravenes established state policy and procedure as contained within formal rules, regulations, and statutes, automatically becomes the state's new position in all similar matters or whether the act, when viewed from the state's perspective, is merely a random and unauthorized deviation. 69 Without a doubt, the employee's position in the governmental hierarchy is relevant to this inquiry. For example, consider a variety of situations in which a state's policy and procedures in a given area are delegated to a specified policymaker, be it a single person, a committee, or the state legislature. If the policymaker establishes policy and procedure on an informal basis without the aid of formal policy and procedure guidelines, i.e., decides policy on a case-by-case basis, then his pronouncement in a given case reflects the state's position. Thus, a party who suffers a loss without due process protection in his individual case may easily argue that the loss occurred as a result of an inadequate established procedure. 70 In another scenario, consider a policymaker, or series of policymakers, who establishes policy and procedure through a deliberative, or even legislative, process which culminates in a certain concrete position expressed in formal pronouncements. In such a situation, it is reasonable to believe that only the results of that more formal process reflect the state's established policy and procedure. If the policymaker's subordinate, or even the policymaker himself, deviates in a single instance from the more formal pronouncement, it is less likely to reflect a new trend in state policy and procedure. A shift in policy is only likely to occur in one of two situations. First, a shift occurs if the same formal steps which created the original policies and procedures are repeated and culminate in the pronouncement of new policy and procedures. Second, a state's position may change if the policymaker repeatedly deviates from the formally established policy and procedure until his practice and custom has replaced the formal policy and procedures. 71 We believe that this case more closely reflects the latter of these two possible scenarios. The state of Illinois established the DCFS's licensing procedures through the traditional legislative process. It created a body of concrete statutory law which established a step-by-step policy and procedure for granting and renewing the licenses of child welfare agencies, as well as provided the framework for the DCFS's own day-to-day policy and procedure manual. In effect, the policymaker is the state legislature. It is true that the state delegated some of the rulemaking power to the DCFS itself, but that entity likewise set its formal policies and procedures through a deliberative process which culminated in a set of formal rules and regulations. Thus, the combination of the state legislature's and the DCFS's formal pronouncements comprise the state's established procedure. 72 Because the state promulgated policy and procedure by formal means, the employment status of the state employee violating that procedure must be considered much less important in determining whether a deviation from the policy may be characterized as random and authorized under Parratt. Even if we assume that the appellants qualify as policymakers themselves--which we doubt given their position in the governmental hierarchy but will assume solely for the sake of analysis--their own policy, which at absolute best may be characterized as informal, cannot be said automatically to preempt or displace otherwise adequate existing state policy and procedure. Because the state, through its designated policymaking branches, created its formal policies and procedures, we cannot entertain a claim that the single act of a state employee now reflects the state's established policies and procedures. 73 If, as Easter House contends, this case more closely resembled Logan than Parratt and Hudson, then we of course would be forced to find that the state's established procedure was itself inadequate to guarantee the requisite due process protection. In Logan, the state had passed a statute which required a claimant under the state's employment laws to file a claim with the state employment commission prior to filing a lawsuit. The law also required the commission to hold a hearing upon the claim within 120 days thereafter. However, the law further provided that the claimant's claim would be barred if for any reason the hearing was not held within 120 days, although the commission was required to grant the hearing automatically. When the commission failed to hold his hearing within 120 days which resulted in a jurisdictional bar to the claimant's employment claim, the claimant in Logan filed a section 1983 due process action. 74 The Supreme Court stated that the plaintiff's complaint should not be characterized as challenging the high-ranking state employees' failure to grant his requisite hearing in a timely manner when they had a duty to do so. Rather, the Court noted that the procedure itself was inadequate, not because the commission failed to grant the hearing, but because the statute contained a series of provisions which would allow a deprivation to occur by operation of law under a wide-variety of possible scenarios. 455 U.S. at 436, 102 S.Ct. at 1158. That is, because the law mandated the claimant to file a claim with the commission before he could proceed in court, and because it further deprived the claimant of his claim without a hearing if for any reason a hearing on the claim was not held in 120 days, then the law itself was inadequate to protect the claimant's property interest in his claim. 75 In Logan, the state's procedure would have been adequate and the commission's actions arguably in question only if the state procedure had absolutely provided that no deprivation could occur without a hearing--rather than holding that a deprivation could occur without a hearing if the hearing was not held within 120 days--and the commission somehow managed to extinguish the claimant's claim without holding a hearing. Thus, contrary to Easter House's assertions, the high-ranking Logan defendants' failure to perform their duties did not constitute an established state procedure; the state statute itself was the inadequate component in the deprivation process. 76 In contrast, here the State of Illinois adopted a procedure which provided adequate due process protection; it contained no loopholes which would allow a deprivation to occur without due process unless the state employees acted in an unforeseen way. For example, the state's procedure detailed the method in which renewal licenses and charter applications should be handled. The law at that time even provided that in the case of the former a child welfare agency could continue to operate without a current license in hand while awaiting a final decision by the state and the courts upon its application for a renewal license. See supra note 12 (discussing 1969 Ill.Laws 106 (current version as amended at Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 23, p 2219(b) (1988))). Thus, the state procedure was adequate in and of itself unlike the procedural scheme promulgated by the state in Logan. 77 Only when the appellants took action which went beyond the realm of the foreseeable did Easter House suffer a property deprivation. If the appellants had merely refused to follow established procedure, Easter House still would have been able to operate pending a final determination by the courts. However, because the appellants took further steps--contacting the adoption court and responding incorrectly to inquiries by prospective parents and job applicants--Easter House arguably experienced a property deprivation. As a result, we believe that Logan is distinguishable and that Parratt provides the proper analysis. 78 We conclude that Easter House cannot maintain a section 1983 action in light of the Supreme Court's pronouncements in Parratt and its progeny. The Supreme Court has attempted to strike a balance between the competing interests of providing a remedy for injuries sustained in connection with violations of constitutional rights and avoiding the use of section 1983 as just another opportunity for parties to shop between state and federal forums. See Holloway, 790 F.2d at 1174. We believe that Parratt must be read broadly enough to avoid turning the fourteenth amendment into a font of tort law to be superimposed upon whatever systems may already be administered by the States. Parratt, 451 U.S. at 544, 101 S.Ct. at 1917; see also Daniels, 474 U.S. at 332, 106 S.Ct. at 666. 79 Section 1983 must be preserved to remedy only those deprivations which actually occur without adequate due process of law, such as those which result from a state 's conscious decision to ignore the protections guaranteed by the Constitution. It should not be employed to remedy deprivations which occur at the hands of a state employee who is acting in direct contravention of the state's established policies and procedures which have been designed to guarantee the very protections which the employee now has chosen to ignore. Such a limitation upon section 1983 maintains the delicate balance between the state and federal judicial systems, leaving the former to remedy individual torts and the latter to address property deprivations which occur without adequate due process protection. 80 iv. Adequate State Law Remedies 81 Having decided that the appellants' conduct may be characterized as random and unauthorized under Parratt, we must decide whether meaningful postdeprivation remedies exist under state law. The parties have not discussed this issue at much length, leading us to believe that they have little disagreement that Illinois law provides Easter House with remedies to redress its injuries. Nevertheless, we will address some of the general concerns which Easter House's briefs suggest may preclude application of Parratt. 82 Easter House apparently believes that the remedies available under Illinois law are not as substantial as those available under section 1983. It also characterizes the state road to recovery as a lengthy and speculative process, especially in light of the appellants' potential qualified immunity claims. As a result, it contends that the state has not provided it with a meaningful postdeprivation procedure as contemplated by Parratt. 83 Initially, we note that Easter House may seek a wide variety of relief under numerous legal theories. For example, Illinois common law provides a former employer with a remedy against a former employee who solicits key clients and improperly exploits benefits gained by his or her prior employment. See, e.g., Corroon & Black of Ill., Inc. v. Magner, 145 Ill.App.3d 151, 98 Ill.Dec. 663, 494 N.E.2d 785 (1986); Smith-Shrader Co. v. Smith, 136 Ill.App.3d 571, 91 Ill.Dec. 1, 5-6, 483 N.E.2d 283, 289-90 (1985). In a similar vein, Illinois law recognizes a tort action which businesses may bring against parties which interfere with business relationships or their right to conduct business generally. See, e.g., American Pet Motels, Inc. v. Chicago Veterinary Medicine Ass'n, 106 Ill.App.3d 626, 62 Ill.Dec. 325, 435 N.E.2d 1297 (1982); Streif v. Bovinette, 88 Ill.App.3d 1079, 44 Ill.App.3d 372, 411 N.E.2d 341 (1980). In addition, under Illinois law, an injured party may bring an action if a third party interferes with the injured party's contractual relations or if tortiously interferes with the injured party's prospective economic advantage. See, e.g., Singh v. Curry, 667 F.Supp. 603 (N.D.Ill.1987); Williams v. Weaver, 145 Ill.App.3d 562, 99 Ill.Dec. 412, 417, 495 N.E.2d 1147 (1986); Galinski v. Kessler, 134 Ill.App.3d 602, 89 Ill.Dec. 433, 437, 480 N.E.2d 1176 (1985). 84 Illinois courts also have stated that the right to do business constitutes property, and access to one's place of business or the enjoyment of the good will attending it are incidents of property, as respects liability for interference therewith. See, e.g., Meadowmoor Dairies v. Milk Wagon Drivers' Union of Chicago, 371 Ill. 377, 21 N.E.2d 308 (1939). Thus, a business may bring an action for the tort of malicious and wrongful impairment of property if it is based upon a civil wrong. See, e.g., Nemanich v. Long Grove Country Club Estates, Inc., 119 Ill.App.2d 169, 255 N.E.2d 466 (1970). Finally, to protect its interest in exclusive use of its name, Easter House might bring a deceptive trade practice action under paragraph 313 of chapter 121 1/2 of the Illinois Revised Statutes and seek both injunctive relief as well as any other remedies otherwise available against the same conduct under the common law and other statutes of the state. 85 We believe that these potential causes of actions, among others, adequately afford Easter House meaningful post-deprivation remedies sufficient to provide the requisite due process protection. 15 As for Easter House's qualified immunity concerns, we do not think that the otherwise adequate state law remedies will be curtailed by the appellants' ability to avail themselves of the immunity which public officials ordinarily enjoy. Paragraph 801 of chapter 127 of the Illinois Revised Statutes prohibits suits against the State of Illinois, unless they are brought in the Illinois Court of Claims, Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 37, p 439.8. However, the Illinois Supreme Court has held that state employees are not granted immunity similar to that enjoyed by the state. See, e.g., Senn Park Nursing Center v. Miller, 104 Ill.2d 169, 83 Ill.Dec. 609, 470 N.E.2d 1029 (1984); see also Smith v. Jones, 113 Ill.2d 126, 100 Ill.Dec. 560, 562, 497 N.E.2d 738, 740 (1986) (An action against a state official for conduct in his official capacity will withstand a motion to dismiss the complaint on sovereign immunity grounds if the complaint alleges that the official is ... violating the law of Illinois and thus acting beyond his authority.); Children's Memorial Hosp. v. Mueller, 141 Ill.App.3d 951, 96 Ill.Dec. 289, 491 N.E.2d 103 (1986) (immunity extends not only to actions where the State is named as the defendant, but also to actions against State departments, such as DCFS, and State officers acting pursuant to their lawful authority (emphasis added)); see also generally National Communications Sys., 789 F.2d at 373 (discussing the adequacy of state law remedies in light of potential immunity claims and the principles established by Hudson ). 86 Finally, we also must reject Easter House's characterization of the state recovery process as a lengthy and speculative process which forecloses the application of Parratt. In Hudson, the Supreme Court rejected an argument that state law relief should be deemed inadequate because it is far from certain and complete. 468 U.S. at 535, 104 S.Ct. at 3205. The Court also stated that whether an injured party might not be able to recover under [the state law] remedies the full amount which he might receive in a Sec. 1983 action is not ... determinative of the adequacy of the state remedies. 468 U.S. at 535, 104 S.Ct. at 3204-05 (citing Parratt, 451 U.S. at 544, 101 S.Ct. at 1917); see also National Communications Sys., Inc., 789 F.2d at 373. 87 We note that almost all litigation, whether conducted in a state or federal forum, may be characterized as a lengthy and speculative process. Litigants often decry the speed with which courts administer justice and likewise may lament that a particular forum may yield a more favorable result depending upon the nature of the claim and the particular position they support. However, we should not reject the application of Parratt unless the remedy which an injured party may pursue in state court can readily be characterized as inadequate to the point that it is meaningless or nonexistent and thus in no way can be said to provide the due process relief guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment. Consequently, we hold that Easter House's arguments are misplaced. 88 Based upon our reading of Hudson and Parratt, we hold that adequate state remedies exist to correct any injuries which may have resulted from the appellants' improper conduct. We do not intend our decision to be read as foreclosing section 1983 actions any time a state provides an alternative forum for relief. However, when alternative relief exists and the facts of a case dictate the application of Parratt and Hudson, a plaintiff's due process rights are not violated and no basis for a section 1983 action exists. See Kauth, 852 F.2d at 955-56 (if a state provides an adequate means of addressing a property deprivation, the victim of the deprivation has been accorded due process of law); id. at 955 n. 8. Any action for injuries thus must be brought in the state forum. In summary, we hold that the Parratt line of cases preclude an action by Easter House pursuant to section 1983 for the injuries which resulted from the alleged licensing conspiracy because it received all of the process which was due.