Supreme Court of Texas

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action brought by constables against a county claiming it terminated their employment without just cause and without a hearing, in violation of the constitution, the court holds: 1) the county's civil service system's covered employees cannot be discharged without just cause, and thus have a property interest in continued employment; 2) the deputies were denied procedural due process in their discharge; 3) for the denial, they could recover damages for injuries resulting from the loss of their employment only if just cause did not exist for their termination; 4) thus, their due process claim required a remand for further proceedings; and 5) a government employee's interest in continued employment is not protected by substantive due process, and even if it were, county's decision to discharge the constables was not arbitrary and capricious so as to violate substantive due process.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/16/2007
• Published 02/20/2007

Judges

Court

• Supreme Court of Texas

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