Clyde Couch v. Michael Wilkinson

RONEY, Senior Circuit Judge:

The issue in this case is whether the Iowa Veterans Preference Act, Chapter 70 of the Iowa Code (1991), gives an Armed Forces veteran, a state probationary employee, a sufficient expectation of continued employment upon which to base a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim of termination without due process. We hold that the statute does not give the plaintiff a property interest in his job, and affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment on that issue and dismissal of Couch’s pendant state law claims of wrongful discharge.

Plaintiff Clyde Couch is an honorably…