Chase

MEMORANDUM *

After a mental patient’s deadly attack on employees in the Nevada County Behavioral Health Services Department (“BHS”), Pamela Chase and Yvonne O’Keefe, two former employees of BHS, filed a § 1983 civil rights claim against the County of Nevada and several BHS supervisors. The plaintiffs allege that defendants implemented policies which placed BHS employees in danger, thus violating their Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights. The district court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the claim, holding that defendants’ alleged conduct did not violate plaintiffs’ substantive due process rights. As the parties are familiar with the facts, we recite them only as necessary. We affirm.

Plaintiffs may have a valid claim under state law, but they do not have a federal due process claim. The Supreme Court has held that “the Due Process Clause does not impose an independent federal obligation upon municipalities to provide certain minimal levels of safety and security in the workplace.” Collins v. City of Harker Heights, 503 U.S. 115, 130 , 112 S.Ct. 1061 , 117 L.Ed.2d 261 (1992). Further, Plaintiffs’ injuries resulted from private violence. Generally, “a…