Campbell V. Shearer

In this procedural due process action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976) for deprivation of property, we are presented again with the question of what elements are necessary to state and prove a cause of action for constitutional deprivation of property under section 1983. The District Court decided in favor of the various defendants on grounds that they are protected from liability by either an absolute, or a qualified immunity. We affirm on a different ground. Under our recent decision in Vicory v. Walton, 721 F.2d 1062 (6th Cir. 1983), a plaintiff must plead and prove that available state remedies are inadequate or systemically defective in order to state or prove a proper procedural due process claim under section 1983 for deprivation of property. Plaintiff must prove the due process element of the wrong as well as the property deprivation element, and in this case he has failed to show that Michigan's administrative and judicial remedies are inadequate or that they do not provide adequate process to remedy the constitutional violation claimed.