Opinion ID: 1454041
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dismissal of the Due Process Claim

Text: Hatfield's complaint alleged that she had been working in her position for eight years under successive one-year contracts. Hatfield alleged that when her contract was not renewed for the 2001-2002 school year, the defendants deprived her of a property right without due process of law. The defendants moved to dismiss the due process claim on the basis that Hatfield's own pleadings demonstrated that she had no property right in her continued employment. In an opinion dated February 11, 2003, the district court agreed and dismissed the due process claim. For reasons unknown, defense counsel apparently believed the claim was still in the case by the time of trial, and he moved to dismiss this claim pursuant to Rule 50(a) after the close of the evidence. The magistrate judge granted the defendants' motion on the basis that even if the evidence established that Hatfield had a property right in the renewal of her contract, the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because there was sufficient uncertainty that such a property right existed.