Opinion ID: 2158879
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: civil rights claims

Text: [¶ 10] Look's amended complaint contains a claim for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the Town and its selectmen deprived it of a protected property interest without due process of law. It also includes a claim under the Maine Civil Rights Act, 5 M.R.S.A. § 4682 (2002), of a denial of due process in violation of article I, section 6-A of the Maine Constitution. [¶ 11] Look has not specified whether it has been denied procedural or substantive due process, but a necessary predicate for either is a cognizable property interest. Bd. of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972); Cruz-Erazo v. Rivera-Montanez, 212 F.3d 617, 622 (1st Cir.2000); see alsoIndep. Enters. Inc. v. Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Auth., 103 F.3d 1165, 1179-80 (3d Cir.1997). Property interests are created by state law or other rules that secure benefits. Bd. of Regents, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701. Look's contention that it was deprived of a protected property interest is based on the FEMA regulation, 44 C.F.R. § 13.36. Look claims the regulation required the Town to award it the road reconstruction contract and the Town abused its discretion in failing to do so. [¶ 12] The question of whether an unsuccessful bidder for a governmental contract has a property interest in the contract is one of first impression in Maine. Several federal courts of appeals, however, have held that the bidder has no property interest. Indep. Enters. Inc., 103 F.3d at 1179-80; Sowell's Meats & Servs., Inc. v. McSwain, 788 F.2d 226, 228 (4th Cir.1986). In Kim Construction Co. v. Board of Trustees of the Village of Mundelein, 14 F.3d 1243 (7th Cir.1994), the court held that the disappointed bidder for a sewer contract had no property interest in the contract because the contracting agency retained discretion to reject the lowest bid. Id. at 1247 (citing Ky. Dep't of Corr. v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 464-65 & n. 4, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989)). The advertisement for bids in the Kim Construction case contained the same caveat as the invitation to bid in this case: the municipality reserves the right to reject any and all bids.... Id. at 1245. [¶ 13] The FEMA regulation provides that a contract award is to be made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. 44 C.F.R. § 13.36(d)(2)(ii)(D). It further provides: Any or all bids may be rejected if there is a sound documented reason. Id. § 13.36(d)(2)(ii)(E). Although Look argues that the FEMA regulation required the Town to award it the contract the moment the bids were opened because its bid was the lowest, the regulation plainly does not require such a result. [3] [¶ 14] In support of its contention that it had a protected property interest in its alleged right to be awarded the road reconstruction contract, Look relies primarily on two cases, Three Rivers Cablevision, Inc. v. City of Pittsburgh, 502 F.Supp. 1118 (W.D.Pa.1980), and Pataula Electric Membership Corp. v. Whitworth, 951 F.2d 1238 (11th Cir.1992). In Three Rivers, the district court held that a disappointed bidder for a city cable TV contract had a protected property interest because local law required the city to award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder, and due process entitled the lowest responsible bidder to the non-arbitrary exercise by the city of its discretion in making the award. 502 F.Supp. at 1130-31. In Pataula, the Eleventh Circuit likewise held that disappointed bidders for two contracts to supply electricity to state prisons had protected property interests because state law required awards to the lowest responsible bidders, and, although the agency had discretion in making the awards, the existence of some objective standards meant that the plaintiffs stated a claim by alleging that the agency abused its discretion and arbitrarily ignored competitive bidding requirements. 951 F.2d at 1243. [¶ 15] The holdings of Three Rivers and Pataula have been criticized and distinguished, even in their respective circuits. The Third Circuit has effectively overruled Three Rivers, rejecting its reasoning as unpersuasive and holding that a disappointed low bidder has no property interest in its right to receive a government contract. Indep. Enters. Inc., 103 F.3d at 1178 & n. 11. The Eleventh Circuit has severely limited the holding in Pataula, concluding that Pataula and Three Rivers are a questionable basis for giving disappointed bidders a constitutional claim. Circa Ltd. v. City of Miami, 79 F.3d 1057, 1063 (11th Cir.1996). [4] [¶ 16] We agree with the Seventh Circuit's holding in the Kim Construction case that disappointed bidders do not have a property interest unless the applicable law or regulation mandated that the contracting body accept the bid and gave it no discretion whatsoever to reject the bid. Kim Construction, 14 F.3d at 1247. Look has failed to demonstrate that it had a property interest in the contract that it sought through the bid process. Neither state law nor the FEMA regulation, which allows the Town to reject bids for any sound documented reason, 44 C.F.R. § 13.36(d)(2)(ii)(E), required the Town to accept Look's bid. In the absence of such a requirement, Look cannot be said to have had a legitimate claim of entitlement to the bid. Having no cognizable property interest, Look could not have been deprived by the Town of either procedural or substantive due process. [¶ 17] The lack of a property interest is also fatal to Look's state civil rights claim which is also based upon a deprivation of due process. See Northup v. Poling, 2000 ME 199, ¶ 9 n. 5, 761 A.2d 872, 875 (due process is coextensive under state and federal constitutions). The entry is: Appeal from dismissal of M.R. Civ. P. 80B claim dismissed. In all other respects, judgment affirmed.