Stiesberg
Stiesberg v. California
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Leavy, J.
A police officer appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his civil rights action against the officer’s employer and various superior officers, arguing that the district court erred by concluding that his transfer from one post to another without any effect on his rank, pay. or privileges did not violate any federally protected liberty or property interests. For the reasons which follow, we affirm.
FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS
Frederick M. Stiesberg, Jr. (“Stiesberg”), a captain in the California Highway Patrol (“CHP”), returned from vacation in July 1991 to find that he had been transferred from his position as Commander of the CHP’s North Sacramento Area to that of Commander of the CHP’s Air Operations Division. Although the new posting involved a lateral transfer with no adverse effect on his rank, pay, or privileges, Stiesberg believed that the change was intended to be punitive because, over the previous nineteen months, CHP officers under his command had issued several traffic citations to two daughters of the CHP’s highest ranking official, Commissioner Maurice Hannigan, Jr. (“Hannigan”).