Opinion ID: 766867
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Liberty Interest--Stigma Plus Property Right

Text: 48 Waste Management's second claim for relief alleges that the official stigmatization of the plaintiffs plus the alteration or extinguishment of their statutorily recognized property interest in their business goodwill deprived the plaintiffs of liberty in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. This claim relies on the stigma-plus test articulated in Paul v. Davis, which requires that the complaint allege that the state action not only caused the stigma of a damaged reputation, but also that the state action deprived the plaintiff of a protected liberty or property interest or a status recognized by the state. Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. at 712. In this case, the plus alleged is the deprivation of a protected property interest. We held in the previous section that the alleged damage to the Waste Management's business reputation did not amount to the deprivation of a federally protected property interest. Thus, the second claim was properly dismissed. 49