Carter instituted this lawsuit on November 18, 1991 by filing a civil action in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County against the City of Philadelphia, the Police Commissioner, the Director of Personnel and the Acting Director of Personnel. In count IV of the complaint, Carter alleged that, in violation of
42 U.S.C. § 1983, the defendants, acting under color of state law, deprived him of property without due process of law. Carter asserted that a provision of the Pennsylvania Veterans' Preference Act,
51 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 7104(b),
entitles him, as a veteran, to a preference in promotion, that he had a property interest in this promotion and a legitimate claim of entitlement to it. Carter further claimed that the city's utilization of § 9.024 of the Philadelphia Civil Service Regulations,
which negates veterans' preference in promotion, was unconstitutionally applied to him and deprived him of his state-law guaranteed property right to promotion to the sergeant's position.