United States First Circuit

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit brought by a group of twenty-two contract employees against a Puerto Rican municipality and its officers, a grant of plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded where: 1) plaintiffs had a reasonable expectation of continued employment; 2) a one-year term of employment with Puerto Rican government bodies is generally considered a protected property interest for procedural due process purposes; and 3) defendants' claim that plaintiffs were not deprived of protected property interests without due process of law because the process Puerto Rico provided was adequate is rejected.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/03/2010
• Published 06/03/2010

Judges

• LYNCH, Chief Judge., Before LYNCH, Chief Judge, TORRUELLA and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Susana I. Peñagarícano-Brown, Assistant Solicitor General, with whom Irene S. Soroeta-Kodesh, Solicitor General, Leticia Casalduc-Rabell, Deputy Solicitor General, and Zaira Z. Girón-Anadón, Deputy Solicitor General, were on brief for appellants Miguel A. Ruiz-Hernández and Glenda L. Peña-Muñoz, in their personal capacities., Lizabel M. Negrón, for appellant Municipality of Aguada.


• For Appellees:
  
• Claudio Aliff-Ortiz, with whom Eliezer Aldarondo-Ortiz, Eliezer A. Aldarondo-Lopez and Aldarondo & López Bras, were on brief for appellees.