Drake v. Scott, No. 86-1353
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | Before ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON; ARNOLD |
| Citation | 823 F.2d 239 |
| Parties | 108 Lab.Cas. P 55,848, 2 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 559 Don G. DRAKE, Appellee, v. Ray SCOTT, Director of Arkansas Dept. of Human Services; Dr. Curtis Ivery, Commissioner of Social Services; and Roy Kindle, Director of Pulaski County Social Services, Appellants. |
| Docket Number | No. 86-1353 |
| Decision Date | 09 July 1987 |
Page 239
v.
Ray SCOTT, Director of Arkansas Dept. of Human Services;
Dr. Curtis Ivery, Commissioner of Social Services;
and Roy Kindle, Director of Pulaski
County Social Services, Appellants.
Eighth Circuit.
Decided July 9, 1987.
Page 240
Tim Humphries, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, Ark., for appellants.
John Wesley Hall, Jr., Little Rock, Ark., for appellee.
Before ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.
ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.
This case is again before us, on petitions for rehearing filed by both sides.
Our previous opinion, 812 F.2d 395 (8th Cir.1987), held: (1) the District Court correctly denied the defendant employer's motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff employee's claim that he was discharged on account of the exercise of First Amendment rights; and (2) the District Court incorrectly denied defendants' motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs' claim that his discharge deprived him of property (his job) without (procedural) due process of law.
The appellants' (defendants') petition for rehearing, contesting our holding on the First Amendment claim, is denied. This issue was sufficiently discussed in our previous opinion. The appellee's (plaintiff's) petition for rehearing, contesting our holding on the procedural-due-process claim, is granted. On reconsideration, however, we adhere to the result previously reached, that plaintiff had no federal constitutional right of property in his job. 1
Our previous rejection of the plaintiff's procedural-due-process claim was based on Hogue v. Clinton, 791 F.2d 1318 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 648, 93 L.Ed.2d 704 (1986). At that time, we read Hogue to hold that under Arkansas law 2 "all employment contracts
Page 241
with no fixed term [a category that includes the present plaintiff's situation] are terminable at will, even if there is a provision in the employment contract that an employee will not be discharged except for good cause." Drake v. Scott, 812 F.2d at 400 (emphasis in original). Under this reading of Hogue, it was unnecessary for us to interpret the particular regulation relied on by plaintiff, AR 703.6, or to decide whether the regulation was invalid as contrary to statute, Ark.Stat.Ann. Sec. 5-912i(A) (Supp.1985). It did not matter whether the regulation guaranteed that plaintiff would not be discharged except for good cause. All that mattered was that the contract of employment contained no fixed term of months or years.As plaintiff points out, this reading of Arkansas law is no longer tenable. The Supreme Court of Arkansas has now reexamined the employment-at-will doctrine and announced a clear rule: if the contract of employment (which...
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McLin v. Trimble, No. 73237
...in the first instance should be addressed. Drake v. Scott, 812 F.2d 395, 398-399 (8th Cir.1987), modified on rehearing on other grounds, 823 F.2d 239, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 965, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987). See also, Craft v. Wipf, 836 F.2d 412, 416 n. 1 (8th Cir.1987); Moreno v. ......
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Jones v. Clinton, No. LR-C-94-290.
...1296 (8th Cir.1993) (determining that a state employee generally has no property interest in a state job) (per curiam); Drake v. Scott, 823 F.2d 239, 242 (8th Cir.) (concluding that no property interest exists in state employment absent an express provision that discharge will not be withou......
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Johnson-El v. Schoemehl, JOHNSON-E
...). Thus, in Craft v. Wipf, 836 F.2d 412 (8th Cir.1987), and Drake v. Scott, 812 F.2d 395, reh'g denied and modified on other grounds, 823 F.2d 239 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987), we considered whether the alleged property interests Page 1047 we......
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Griffith v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, No. 86-5720
...as vague as the present one are sometimes deemed to preclude the finding of an entitlement to continued employment. In Drake v. Scott, 823 F.2d 239 (8th Cir.1987), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987), a state regulation stated, "The tenure of every permanent em......
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Griffith v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, No. 86-5720
...as vague as the present one are sometimes deemed to preclude the finding of an entitlement to continued employment. In Drake v. Scott, 823 F.2d 239 (8th Cir.1987), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987), a state regulation stated, "The tenure of every permanent em......
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Williams v. Com. of Ky., Nos. 93-5222
...Cir.1990), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1218, 111 S.Ct. 2827, 115 L.Ed.2d 997 (1991); Drake v. Scott, 812 F.2d 395, 399 (8th Cir.), adhered to, 823 F.2d 239 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 965, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987). The Sixth Circuit has not adopted by name the "pende......
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Johnson-El v. Schoemehl, JOHNSON-E
...). Thus, in Craft v. Wipf, 836 F.2d 412 (8th Cir.1987), and Drake v. Scott, 812 F.2d 395, reh'g denied and modified on other grounds, 823 F.2d 239 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987), we considered whether the alleged property interests Page 1047 we......
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McLin v. Trimble, No. 73237
...in the first instance should be addressed. Drake v. Scott, 812 F.2d 395, 398-399 (8th Cir.1987), modified on rehearing on other grounds, 823 F.2d 239, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 965, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987). See also, Craft v. Wipf, 836 F.2d 412, 416 n. 1 (8th Cir.1987); Moreno v. ......