Opinion ID: 513479
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fourteenth Amendment Predicate

Text: 28 Learned contends that Bellevue deprived him of property and liberty without due process of law, citing only one case in support of his position: Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980). No property interest was involved in Owen. However, in dicta, the Supreme Court agreed with the Eighth Circuit's conclusion that the plaintiff was deprived of liberty without due process of law when the plaintiff's employer terminated and publicly stigmatized the plaintiff, damaging his reputation in the community, without notice or an opportunity to clear his good name. Id. at 633 n. 13, 100 S.Ct. at 1406 n. 13. 29 We have recognized that, in certain circumstances, injury to reputation may implicate a constitutional liberty interest. See Fleming v. Department of Public Safety, 837 F.2d 401, 409 n. 10 (9th Cir.1988). However, we have limited such recognition to those instances where an employee has been dismissed, and the reasons for dismissal have so stigmatized the person that his other employment opportunities have been jeopardized. Id.; Clemente v. United States, 766 F.2d 1358 at 1366 (9th Cir.1985); see also Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 710-12, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 1164-66, 47 L.Ed.2d 405 (1976) (defamatory remarks, unless accompanied by employment termination or a significant alteration of status, do not violate the fourteenth amendment). 30 The facts in this case are not nearly as egregious as those in Owen, and as a matter of law do not constitute a deprivation of liberty. Learned is still employed by Bellevue's Parks and Recreation Department. He maintains the same salary and title that he enjoyed before the events leading to this action. Learned's supervisors did not publicly stigmatize Learned; any defamatory remarks that may have been made did not go beyond others employed by the Department and would not interfere with Learned's liberty to pursue the career of his choice. Therefore, Learned's liberty claim must fail. 31 Learned did not produce any evidence that he had a protected property interest in his employment, and therefore, he cannot claim that he was denied property without due process of law. See Merritt v. Mackey, 827 F.2d 1368, 1370-71 (9th Cir.1987); see also McAdoo v. Lane, 564 F.Supp. 1215, 1221 (N.D.Ill.1983), aff'd without opinion, McAdoo v. Thomas, 774 F.2d 1168 (7th Cir.1985) (because plaintiff had a protected property interest in his employment, he could pursue his claim that he was deprived of property without due process of law when his superiors harassed him until he gave up his job). 32 Learned did not specifically challenge the district court's ruling that there was no evidence of any violation of equal protection under the fourteenth amendment, nor has he ever cited any authority in support of an equal protection claim. In any event, we agree with the district court that Learned did not produce any evidence to support an equal protection claim. Summary judgment was therefore proper as to Learned's section 1983 claims.