Bannum, Inc. v. Town of Ashland

Bannum, Inc., a business which operates half-way houses throughout the country under contracts with the United States Bureau of Prisons, had been advised by the Bureau of Prisons that it would receive a contract to operate a half-way house in the Town of Ashland, Virginia. The Bureau of Prisons, however, notified Bannum that it would not finalize the contract for operation of the Ashland facility because the Town of Ashland had withdrawn its requisite approval to have the facility there. Having lost the approval of Ashland and therefore the anticipated contract with the Bureau of Prisons, Bannum sued the Town of Ashland under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, contending that Ashland deprived Bannum of property and liberty interests without due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and impaired its contractual rights in violation of Art. 1, § 10, c1. 1 of the United States Constitution. On review of the district courts dismissal of the complaint, we affirm.