Opinion ID: 3040701
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Having identified the contours of the substantive due process right, we next turn to the question of whether Engquist’s evidence at trial satisfied this standard. Defendants contend that the evidence was insufficient to show that Engquist was deprived of her right to pursue a profession. We agree. [11] We have not previously articulated how much interference with someone’s job prospects constitutes a denial of the right to pursue a profession. On this question, we find useful the Seventh Circuit’s standard that in order to bring an occupational liberty claim, a plaintiff must show that the “character and circumstances of a public employer’s stigmatizing conduct or statements are such as to have destroyed an employee’s freedom to take advantage of other employment opportunities.” Bordelon v. Chi. Sch. Reform Bd. of Trs., 233 F.3d 524, 531 (7th Cir. 2000). “It is not enough that the employer’s stigmatizing conduct has some adverse effect on the employee’s job prospects; instead, the employee must show that the stigmatizing actions make it virtually impossi- 7 Defendants argue that Engquist’s substantive due process claim is preempted by her class-of-one equal protection claim because it more specifically addresses her theory of liability. See Armendariz v. Penman, 75 F.3d 1311, 1325-26 (9th Cir. 1996) (en banc) (“Substantive due process analysis has no place in contexts already addressed by explicit textual provisions of constitutional protection, regardless of whether the plaintiff’s potential claims under those amendments have merit.”); Squaw Valley, 375 F.3d at 949-50 (holding that substantive due process claims based on government interference with property rights are preempted by the Takings Clause). Because we have held that the class-of-one theory is inapplicable in the employment context, see Part I, supra, Engquist’s due process claim is not preempted. 1522 ENGQUIST v. OREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ble for the employee to find new employment in his chosen field.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). [12] Under this standard, only employer actions that affect a plaintiff’s occupational prospects to the same degree as government legislation are actionable under a substantive due process theory. Thus, it comports with our cases in the legislative context. See Dittman, 191 F.3d at 1029 (holding that a law that imposes a “ ‘complete prohibition’ on entry into a profession . . . implicates a person’s liberty interest in pursuing an occupation or profession of her choice”). The standard also ensures that substantive due process protects the right to pursue an entire profession, and not the right to pursue a particular job. Accordingly, we adopt the standard set forth in Bordelon. [13] In this case, Engquist presented evidence that Defendants made defamatory statements to two or three other people in the industry. In addition, Engquist presented evidence that she was having much difficulty finding a job in the same field in Oregon, and that such difficulty would likely continue. Engquist, however, did not demonstrate that Defendants’ actions caused her job-search difficulties. There was no proof that Defendants’ defamatory comments affected opportunities with those clients, or any other possible employer. Even under the substantial evidence standard, see Gilbrook, 177 F.3d at 856, there was no evidence that her reputation had been publicly damaged by Defendants such that they reduced her employment options. Instead, it appears that Engquist works in a highly specialized field, and there simply are not many jobs available in that field in Oregon. Because Defendants did not cause this situation, their specific actions have not made it “virtually impossible” for Engquist to find new employment. See Bordelon, 233 F.3d at 531. Therefore, we conclude that Engquist did not present sufficient evidence to sustain her substantive due process claim.8 Consequently, we 8 Defendants argue that if there is an available substantive due process claim, pretext is not part of the inquiry. In our substantive due process ENGQUIST v. OREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 1523 reverse the judgment in favor of Engquist on her substantive due process claim.9