UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

J.W. EDWARD WORTHAM, JR., Ph.D.; HAROLD L. BROOKS, M.D.,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

DAVID L. BOREN, President of the University of Oklahoma; JOSEPH HARROZ, JR., General Counsel for the University of Oklahoma; JOSEPH FERRETTI, Senior Vice President and Provost of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center; J. THOMAS MAY, Chairman of the Faculty Appeals Board,

Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-5206

(D.C. No. 00-CV-1054-C)

(N.D. Okla.)

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

Before KELLY, BALDOCK, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

Appellants challenge the district court's grant of summary judgment to appellees on claims of coercion and violation of procedural and substantive due process, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in connection with their resignation from tenured positions with the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center.1 The district court concluded that appellees were qualifiedly immune and that appellants' conduct in resigning and signing releases in exchange for severance benefits was voluntary.

We have jurisdiction over this appeal by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the district court's summary judgment ruling de novo, including its qualified immunity ruling, applying the same standards as that court. Simms v. Okla. ex rel. Dep't of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Servs., 165 F.3d 1321, 1326 (10th Cir. 1999); Pallottino v. City of Rio Rancho, 31 F.3d 1023, 1026 (10th Cir. 1994) (qualified immunity). After review of the parties' briefs and their accompanying appendices,2 we conclude that the district court's ruling was correct. Accordingly, for substantially the same reasons set forth in the court's Order dated October 16, 2001, the judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma is AFFIRMED.

Entered for the Court

Paul J. Kelly, Jr.

Circuit Judge