062029P.pdf   03/08/2007  Sue Peterson  v.  County of Dakota
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  06-2029
   U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Lay and Melloy, Circuit Judges]
   Civil case - civil rights. Plaintiff failed to show any county
   employee acted in bad faith or with malice when they took actions
   which led to her termination of employment; as a result, their
   actions were protected and could not serve as the basis for liability
   under a theory of intentional interference with contract; under
   Minnesota law, an employee's exclusive remedy for wrongful conduct
   by a union in this situation is a suit for breach of the union's duty
   of fair representation, and the court did not err in dismissing the
   claim that the union tortiously interfered with plaintiff's contract;
   while plaintiff had a protected property right in continued employment
   with the county, she was afforded due process in her termination;
   county's pre-termination and post-termination procedures, plus the
   extension of an offer to allow her to resign, adequately protected
   plaintiff's liberty interests; plaintiff was a public official for
   defamation purposes, and under the New York Times v. Sullivan test,
   she failed to show defendants acted with malice in making any of the
   statements she alleged were defamatory.