Due Process Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Jose Vargas, et al. v. Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board, et al.,

Case No.: 19-1686

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

Focus: Due Process Violation

This § 1983 case arises out of disciplinary decisions issued by the Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board between 2013 and 2016. The plaintiffs are current and former sheriff’s deputies and correctional officers who were disciplined for violating various departmental policies and rules. Seven of the eight plaintiffs were fired; the remaining officer was suspended. They seek to represent a class of officers who were disciplined during the relevant time period.

The complaint alleges two claims for deprivation of due process. The first rests on a defect in the composition of the Merit Board: at the time of the challenged disciplinary decisions, certain Board members held their appointments in violation of Illinois law. The second alleges that Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart and Nicholas Scouffas, his General Counsel, assumed control of the Board through political means and pressured its members to make decisions contrary to Illinois law. The plaintiffs also seek relief under multiple state-law theories.

The district judge dismissed the due-process claims and relinquished jurisdiction over the state-law claims. We affirm that judgment. A violation of state law is not a federal due-process violation, so the defect in the Board’s membership is not a basis for a federal constitutional claim. And the allegations of biased decisionmaking suggest only that the plaintiffs may have suffered a random and unauthorized deprivation of their property interest in public employment. An injury of that type is not a violation of due process as long as the state offers adequate postdeprivation remedies. We have long held that Illinois provides constitutionally adequate postdeprivation remedies for aggrieved public employees. The judge properly dismissed this suit.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.