Opinion ID: 2069134
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of Procedural Due Process

Text: Cook has not demonstrated a protected property interest in her continued employment such that it was error for the court to grant a summary judgment in favor of the School Committee on her count alleging a violation of her procedural due process rights. A property interest in continued employment may be established by contract or by proof of an objectively reasonable expectation of continued employment. Mercier v. Town of Fairfield, 628 A.2d 1053, 1055 (Me.1993) (citing Hammond v. Temporary Compensation Review Bd., 473 A.2d 1267, 1271 (Me.1984)). If a person is hired for a government position which is clearly terminable at the will of her superiors, the employee does not have a property interest in the position. Thus, a public employee has no property interest sufficient to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment's due process guarantees unless the applicable statute or employment may be terminated only on a showing of cause. Bishop v. Wood, 426 U.S. 341, 345-47, 96 S.Ct. 2074, 2077-78, 48 L.Ed.2d 684 (1976); Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 167 n. 2, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 1650 n. 2, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974); Perkins v. Board of Directors, S.A.D. # 13, 686 F.2d 49, 52 (1st Cir.1982). While Cook's contract required cause for dismissal during the term of the contract, the portion of the contract discussing nonrenewal and nonextension contained no such provision. Thus, Cook has no cognizable claim to continued employment that is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court properly granted a summary judgment in favor of the School Committee on Cook's claim for a violation of her due process rights.