Opinion ID: 4189570
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: This matter comes on before this Court on consolidated appeals of two cases from the District of New Jersey in which plaintiff-appellants Drew Smith and Michael Guadalupe asserted causes of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendant-appellees the Township of Stafford and Police Chief Joseph Giberson claiming that they were improperly denied promotions in contravention of their procedural and substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. On this appeal, they contend that the District Courts erred in holding that they had no property interest in the promotions to which procedural or substantive due process could attach. Because we hold that Smith and Guadalupe failed to avail themselves of the procedural remedies available and they do not have fundamental constitutional rights to require that the Township adheres to a promotional process, we will affirm the District Courts’ grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellees on both appellants’ due process claims. ____________________ This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. II. STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW 2 The District Courts had jurisdiction over the § 1983 claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331. We maintain jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, as both the December 28, 2016 consent order dismissing the remaining counterclaim after granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellees against Smith’s claims and the November 8, 2016 order granting summary judgment for the defendant-appellees on Guadalupe’s claims constitute final orders. 1 “We exercise plenary review of a district court’s grant of summary judgment.” Goldenstein v. Repossessors Inc., 815 F.3d 142, 146 (3d Cir. 2016). We must “grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). When deciding a motion for summary judgment, “[a]ll reasonable inferences from the record must be drawn in favor of the nonmoving party and the court may not weigh the evidence or assess credibility.” Goldenstein, 815 F.3d at 146 (quotation marks omitted). “A party asserting that a fact cannot be or is genuinely disputed must support the assertion” with citations of “particular parts of materials in the record” or by a “showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c).