OCTOBER TERM, 2000
Syllabus
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit
No. 00-152. Argued February 26, 2001—Decided April 17, 2001
The California Labor Code (Code) authorizes the State to order withholding of payments due a contractor on a public works project if a subcontractor on the project fails to comply with certain Code requirements; permits the contractor, in turn, to withhold similar sums from the subcontractor; and permits the contractor, or his assignee, to sue the awarding body for alleged breach of the contract in not making payment to recover the wages or penalties withheld. After petitioner State Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) determined that respondent G & G Fire Sprinklers, Inc. (G & G), as a subcontractor on three public works projects, had violated the Code, it issued notices directing the awarding bodies on those projects to withhold from the contractors an amount equal to the wages and penalties forfeited due to G & G's violations. The awarding bodies withheld payment from the contractors, who in turn withheld G & G's payment. G & G filed a 42 U. S. C. § 1983 suit against DLSE and other state petitioners in the District Court, claiming that the issuance of the notices without a hearing deprived it of property without due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court granted G & G summary judgment, declared the relevant Code sections unconstitutional, and enjoined the State from enforcing the provisions against G & G. The Ninth Circuit affirmed. This Court granted certiorari, vacated that judgment, and remanded for reconsideration in light of its decision in American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U. S. 40, that the respondents there had no property interest in payment for disputed medical treatment pending review of the treatment's reasonableness and necessity, as authorized by state law. On remand, the Ninth Circuit reinstated its prior judgment and opinion, explaining that G & G's rights were violated not because it was deprived of immediate payment, but because the state statutory scheme afforded no hearing at all.
Held: Because state law affords G & G sufficient opportunity to pursue its claim for payment under its contracts in state court, the statutory scheme does not deprive it of due process. In each of this Court's
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