Due Process Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Gary Cleven v. Paul R. Soglin, et al.,

Case No.: 17-3332

Officials: BAUER, SYKES, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Due Process Violation

Gary Cleven, a stagehand for the City of Madison, Wisconsin, has been in a long‐running dispute with the City about his participation in the Wisconsin Retirement System. At the outset of his employment with the City, it erroneously characterized him as an independent contractor ineligible for retirement benefits. When that mistake was rectified twenty years later, the City delayed reporting his backdated hours and wages to the Wisconsin Retirement System because of a subsidiary dispute about who was responsible for paying Cleven’s overdue employee contribution to the fund. Cleven argues that this delay effectively deprived him of five years of retirement without due process of law.

Even assuming that the City’s delay deprived Cleven of a property right, he was not denied due process. According to Cleven’s account, the City disobeyed an order from a state entity when it failed to immediately report his hours and wages to the Wisconsin Retirement System. But if the City deviated from the procedure that state law required it to follow, Cleven’s right to obtain a writ of mandamus was an adequate remedy. We therefore affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the City.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.