Ste. Marie v. City of Dayton

SUTTON, Circuit Judge.

Thomas C. Ste. Marie, a former Dayton Police Officer, filed this lawsuit against the City of Dayton under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the City deprived him of a property interest in continued employment without due process of law when it discharged him on March 30, 1999, just a few days short of nine months on the job. The key issue in this case is whether Ste. Marie was a probationary employee at the time he was discharged because, as the district court put it, “a probationary employee may be discharged without cause ... [while] an employee who has moved beyond…