Roger McMaster v. Cabinet for Human Resources

Summary

The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of state employees' 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim alleging that their dismissals and related administrative proceedings constituted malicious prosecution and violated substantive due process. The court held that the employees' dismissals did not institute proceedings for purposes of malicious prosecution and that the alleged conduct did not rise to a constitutional violation because the plaintiffs were never exposed to incarceration and the conduct did not shock the conscience. The court also noted that the plaintiffs' claims were subject to Kentucky's one-year statute of limitations.

Holdings

1. The employer's dismissal letters did not institute or initiate judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative proceedings because the employees, rather than the employer, were required to invoke the statutory review machinery. Plaintiffs therefore failed to state a § 1983 claim based on malicious prosecution.
2. Plaintiffs failed to state a substantive-due-process claim because they were never subjected to the possibility of incarceration and the alleged conduct did not shock the conscience. Section 1983 does not apply to every allegedly unfounded or malicious dismissal from employment absent another constitutionally or federally protected basis for the dismissal.
3. Plaintiffs were not required to exhaust state administrative or judicial remedies before pursuing their § 1983 claim.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the dismissal of state employees under a statutory employment process constituted the institution or initiation of proceedings sufficient to support a § 1983 claim analogous to malicious prosecution.
2. Whether the alleged conduct violated substantive due process under the standard requiring conduct that shocks the conscience.
3. Whether plaintiffs were required to exhaust state remedies before bringing their § 1983 action.

Disposition

affirmed