DISCLAIMER:  The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
                        as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.

982803P.pdf   12/16/1999  Tommy Hopkins  v.  John Saunders
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  98-2803
                          and No:  98-2948
   Western District of Missouri   
   Civil case - civil rights. Plaintiff's failure to pursue First 
   Amendment and Title VII claims constituted a waiver 
   of the claims; 1978 merit systems protection plan gave 
   plaintiff a property interest in his position as director of 
   Missouri's Grain Inspection Division; award of nominal 
   damages is legal, not equitable relief, and was precluded 
   by this court's earlier immunity ruling in Hopkins v. 
   Saunders, 93 f3d 522 (8th Cir. 1996); attorneys' fees 
   award vacated; federal law must be used to determine 
   remedy for violation of procedural due process rights; 
   record supported district court finding that plaintiff would 
   have been terminated even if he had received due process.