Codd v. Velger, 429 U.S. 624 (1977)

Codd v. Velger


No. 75-812


Argued December 1, 1976
Decided February 22, 1977
429 U.S. 624

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Syllabus

Respondent’s claim under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that, before being dismissed from his nontenured position as a city policeman, he was entitled to a hearing due to the stigmatizing effect of certain information in his personnel file about a suicide attempt while he was a police trainee held to be defeated by the failure of respondent or the courts below to raise a question about the substantial accuracy of the report of the suicide attempt. Only if the employer is alleged to have created and disseminated a false and defamatory impression about the employee in connection with his termination, or a trial court so finds, is such a hearing required.

525 F.2d 334, reversed.