Seventh Circuit Dismisses Due Process Lawsuit
A plaintiff sued a municipality claiming that the city violated his civil rights when a city inspector shouted racial epithets at him when he was removing a tree from a residential lot in the City. According to the opinion, the city inspector was upset that the plaintiff parked his truck in the alley while he removed the tree. The lawsuit alleged violations of plaintiff's due process rights, the Illinois hate crime statute, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The district court dismissed his due process claims, leaving only the state law claims which the federal court declined to rule on. Plaintiff appealed and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of his due process claims, finding that the plaintiff's complaint failed to allege the violation of a fundamental right. The Court found no fundamental right to "movement without harassment," and also noted that neither defamation nor a derogatory racial epithet will rise to the level of a deprivation of liberty under the due process clause. Finally, the Court held that verbal harassment, threats, or annoyances do not rise to the level of conduct that "shocks the conscience" to trigger a substantive due process claim. The Court concluded that "while despicable," the city inspector's use of racial epithets did not rise to the level of conduct that would support a due process claim. Robbin v. City of Berwyn.
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