194
Opinion of the Court
against respondent. App. to Pet. for Cert. A85-A87. Petitioners appealed.
A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed. G & G Fire Sprinklers, Inc. v. Bradshaw, 156 F. 3d 893, 898 (1998) (Bradshaw I). The court concluded that G & G "has a property interest in being paid in full for the construction work it has completed," id., at 901, and found that G & G was deprived of that interest "as a result of the state's action," id., at 903. It decided that because subcontractors were "afforded neither a pre- nor post-deprivation hearing when payments [were] withheld," the statutory scheme violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id., at 904.
Following Bradshaw I, we decided American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U. S. 40 (1999), where respondents also alleged a deprivation of property without due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Sullivan involved a challenge to a private insurer's decision to withhold payment for disputed medical treatment pending review of its reasonableness and necessity, as authorized by state law. We held that the insurer's action was not "fairly attributable to the State," and that respondents therefore failed to satisfy a critical element of their § 1983 claim. Id., at 58. We also decided that because state law entitled respondents to reasonable and necessary medical treatment, respondents had no property interest in payment for medical treatment not yet deemed to meet those criteria. Id., at 61. We granted certiorari in Bradshaw I, vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remanded for reconsideration in light of Sullivan. Bradshaw v. G & G Fire Sprinklers, Inc., 526 U. S. 1061 (1999).
On remand, the Court of Appeals reinstated its prior judgment and opinion, again by a divided vote. The court held that the withholding of payments was state action because it was "specifically directed by State officials . . . [and] the withholding party has no discretion." G & G Fire
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