National Child Support, Inc v. Thomas Hayes

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
File Name: 08a0163n.06
Filed: March 25, 2008
No. 07-3433
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
NATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT, INC,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
THOMAS HAYES et al.,
Defendant-Appellant.
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ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES
DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN
DISTRICT OF OHIO
OPINION
Before: KEITH, CLAY, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.
RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. National Child Support, Inc. (NCS), a for-
profit child-support collection company, appeals from the grant of summary judgment in favor of
the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) and three of ODJFS’s employees. NSC
brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging the deprivation of a constitutionally
guaranteed property interest. Specifically, NSC contends that the district court erred in finding that
there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the ODJFS and its employees violated
NCS’s right to due process by (1) allegedly canceling NCS’s contracts with Butler and Montgomery
Counties, and (2) interfering with NCS’s business affairs.
The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants after finding that (1) NSC
did not have a protected property interest because the contracts in question were conditional and thus

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nonbinding, (2) the ODJFS did not abuse its discretion in refusing to approve future contracts that
it reasonably believed were in conflict with federal law, and (3) the ODJFS employees named as
defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. NCS’s state-law claims were then dismissed
without prejudice.
After carefully considering the record on appeal, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable
law, and having had the benefit of oral argument, we agree with the district court’s decision to grant
summary judgment to ODJFS and its employees. Because the reasoning that supports the judgment
has been clearly articulated by the district court in a thorough and well-drafted opinion, a detailed
written opinion by us would be unduly duplicative. The judgment of the district court is therefore
affirmed on the basis of the reasoning detailed in the March 9, 2007 opinion rendered by the
Honorable Sandra S. Beckwith, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern
District of Ohio. See Nat’l Child Support, Inc. v. Hayes, No. 1-02-CV-928, 2007 WL 76294 (S.D.
Ohio Mar. 9, 2007).

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