Unpublished Disposition, 857 F.2d 1477 (9th Cir. 1988)

No. 87-5897.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Before FARRIS, and WIGGINS, Circuit Judges, and M.D. CROCKER^* , District Judge.

MEMORANDUM^** 

William Clem appeals the grant of a directed verdict in favor of the County of San Diego and the individual defendants. He claims that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to consider his claims that defendants conspired to deprive him of his property without due process of law and to violate his free speech rights. We review the directed verdict de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Clem and drawing all possible inferences in his favor. Blanton v. Mobil Oil Corp., 721 F.2d 1207, 1219 (9th Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1007 (1985).

Clem presented no evidence from which a jury could reasonably have found that his civil rights were violated. His claims against the County employees fall short under 42 U.S.C. § 1985 because he has failed to show any evidence of discriminatory animus on the part of defendants against an insular class of which Clem is a member. See Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 99-102 (1981). In addition, his complaint cannot support a due process claim because he failed to exhaust his state remedies by not seeking state judicial review of the Civil Service Commission's decision, see Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 530-36 (1984); Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527 (1981), and there was insufficient evidence of a free speech violation for the case to go to the jury, Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 143 (1983). The claims against the County were properly dismissed because Clem presented insufficient evidence of official policy or custom. St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 56 U.S.L.W. 4201 (1988).

AFFIRMED.