68 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Property"'.
J. Gonzalez enters summary judgment in favor of the town of Oyster Bay on claims that alleged several town officials engaged in a racially discriminatory scheme to prevent two residents from using their property as a two-family home on the basis that the owners are both people of color. Evidence produced during discovery shows the town had enforced its zoning regulations against 27 residential properties within only three-tenths of a mile from the litigants’ own property, some of which were cited for the same violations, undercutting the core of the litigants’ allegations that their actions were racially motivated.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Gonzalez, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 2:11cv6084, NOS: Housing/Accommodations - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Zoning
J. Brown issues a sharp rebuke of a property developer’s attempt to ascribe discriminatory animus to a village’s actions and dismisses its takings, discrimination, conspiracy and equitable relief claims. The developer alleges officials for a village on Long Island, along with a local property association, conspired to prevent the developer from using its 10-acre property for use as a filming location in connection with Showtime productions due to its associations with a Southeast Asian religious retreat as well as a Southeast Asian investor. Its claims rooted in discrimination and conspiracy fail for two reasons: the investor is not an actual member of the developer, thus the company lacks standing to claim it was discriminated against, and the complaint fails to allege a meeting of the minds. Its takings claim also fails because they are not prevented from using the property in other ways or simply selling it. The only claim to survive is its Fourth Amendment illegal search claim, finding it sufficiently alleges a building inspector entered the property without permission.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Brown, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv3303, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property
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J. Fleming grants the Ohio EPA's motion to dismiss, ruling the property owners' 2021 lawsuit is time-barred, as they were aware of any alleged conspiracy to prevent them from developing wetlands by 2017 at the latest. The owners claim the conspiracy is ongoing but failed to provide any evidence to support their argument, although the EPA officers would be entitled to immunity even if the claims were not time-barred.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Fleming, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 5:21cv1848, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Water
J. Rice finds in favor of the city against the minerals company's claim that the former violated the latter's right to due process when it authorized activities to surface owners on the land where the company owns mineral interests. The company does not present sufficient evidence to establish its per se physical taking claim, because the individual landowners and the city made surface-level improvements to the land, which is not the same as running underground interferences.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Washington, Judge: Rice, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv5055, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Due Process
J. Peterson grants class certification to the property owners in their complaint alleging that Wisconsin Secretary of Revenue Peter Barca took the owners' private property under the presumption that it was abandoned without compensating the property owners. Despite the differences in the alleged value of their properties, the claims of the property owners and other prospective class members are based on the contention that Wisconsin’s Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act does not follow the Seventh Circuit's decision that owners of unclaimed property should be compensated if the state uses that property.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv1109, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Class Action
J. Geraci finds for the city in pro se claims contending a homeowner was falsely arrested and prosecuted for several misdemeanors relating to the unsafe condition of his property. The homeowner failed to establish additional discovery was warranted, and malicious prosecution claims were time-barred. Meanwhile, claims did not allege the prosecutor acted outside ordinary conduct, and the homeowner had been found living in his house after being ordered to stay off the property following a gas leak.
Court: USDC Western District of New York, Judge: Geraci , Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 6:18cv6572, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Discovery
J. Bumb grants the city and its officials' motion to dismiss the farmer's federal claims against them, which allege a conspiracy to harm him and his farming business led by the city's fire marshal and his family. The majority of the farmer's allegations are time-barred, since the alleged conduct giving rise to the suit largely took place in and around 2018, well before the July 2020 cutoff for claims brought under the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act. He has also failed to state a plausible selective enforcement claim, since he has not established that his neighbors were similarly situated under the city's plumbing code, and his substantive and procedural due process claims similarly fail. The failure of these claims leads the court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a RICO claim.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv4384, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: civil Rights, Municipal Law, property
J. Bumb grants the township and its officials' motion to dismiss the strip mall operators' complaint alleging that the officials' various municipal enforcement actions against the strip mall were part of an anti-Semitic vendetta. The operators have not established standing to bring claims related to the township's denial of an application brought by a prospective tenant of the strip mall, nor any of their other claims. They have also failed to establish that the township's issuance of a hazard notice and subsequent lockout of mall tenants for emergency repairs constituted a taking, nor sufficiently detailed allegations to demonstrate that the township's conduct violated due process requirements. They have not shown that issuance of the notice during Rosh Hashanah was deliberate or motivated by bias, nor that the appearance of swastikas on the property was connected to the township's actions. State law claims also fail.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv4931, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Municipal Law, property
J. Zilly dismisses the Korean restaurant's claims for violation of its substantive due process rights in its lawsuit alleging that the city did not answer the Korean restaurant's calls for help for the Capital Hill Occupying Protest's foreseeable issues involving property damage, loss of business revenue and violent crime. The Korean restaurant alleges that the city created a generalized danger for everyone in the protest area and the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but this argument fails because the city's response to the protest was not directed toward the Korean restaurant.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Zilly, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv540, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Due Process
J. Ho finds the district court improperly dismissed the property owner’s civil rights claims as to takings and due process regarding work done by the city, which damaged the property and caused adjacent properties to flood. The owners allege that city officials violated their rights at the direction of Houston’s mayor and city council, which is enough to establish liability. State law claims were properly dismissed as barred by sovereign immunity. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Ho, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: 22-20019, Categories: civil Rights, property, Due Process
J. Melloy finds a lower court properly dismissed a property developer's civil rights claims for monetary losses it incurred as part of a County development. The property developer argued that it lost revenue due to the County's imposition of a stop- work order. However, the County planning commission presented sufficient evidence in court that the matter had already been settled in a judgment. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Melloy, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 22-3025, Categories: civil Rights, property, Enforcement Of Judgments
J. Mollway partially grants summary judgment on a religious discrimination claims by a temple that seeks a permit to operate a commercial wedding business on agriculturally zoned land. The denial of the permit fails strict scrutiny analysis as Maui Count does not show that the denial was based on any narrowly tailored law with compelling government interest.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Mollway, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 1:14cv535, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Zoning
J. Gallagher partially denies a home loan firm its motion to dismiss allegations of race discrimination in its appraisal of a Black family’s home in application to refinance. The family was appalled at the low value the first appraiser gave. Prior to a second appraisal, the family “whitewashed” their home, putting away family photographs and other visual markers of their race and invited a white friend to stand in as homeowner. An appraiser from a different company valued the home at $750,000, a 60% increase from the first appraisal only seven month later. Also, when a company representative said the family could appeal the initial appraisal and the family filed requisite paperwork, the representative failed to act before the deadline in the appeal process. The family has adequately argued facts supporting race discrimination.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2048, NOS: Housing/Accommodations - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Housing
J. Pepper grants the city's motion to remand back to the Racine Municipal Court a lawsuit involving two property owners claiming the city violated their constitutional rights in part by enforcing ordinances to remove or fix construction scaffolding in front of their property. Because there is no federal question presented in the case, there is no subject matter jurisdiction, and the case is remanded to the municipal court.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv452, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Municipal Law, property
J. Schreier grants the county's motion to dismiss in part in a matter arising from a dispute over an agriculturally zoned property. The property owner and property renter sought to use the property for large events including weddings, family reunions and other large social events. The owner and renter further allege that, over the course of over two years, the county threatened them with fines, injunctions and investigations. A number of claims survive because absolute prosecutorial immunity is limited to claims for money damages.
Court: USDC South Dakota, Judge: Schreier, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv4124, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Zoning
J. Conley finds for the county in a lawsuit from property owners bringing claims over the installation of three stormwater retention ponds directly across from their farmland which they say caused water to pool on their land and negatively impact their growing seasons. In part because the property owners have no admissible evidence that the county intended to flood their farmland or could have reasonably foreseen that installing the retention ponds would cause that to happen, their takings claims under the Fifth Amendment and the Wisconsin Constitution fail. The county's motion for summary judgment is granted as to the takings claims, and the property owners' state-law nuisance claim is remanded to the circuit court.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv198, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, property
J. Eagan grants the city defendants' dismissal motion in this lawsuit concerning certain code enforcement activities, which allegedly caused the plaintiff property owners to suffer emotional distress and the loss of their personal property. The code enforcement division of the city is dismissed as a defendant, since it is not "a separate legal entity." Also, the complaint does not show that "an official policy or custom of the City" resulted in a violation of their rights.
Court: USDC Northern District of Oklahoma , Judge: Eagan, Filed On: June 23, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv521, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Municipal Law, property
J. Oberto recommends denying, in part, a county, sheriff and deputy’s motion for summary judgment on a property owner’s trespass and due process claims. There are triable issues of fact regarding whether a deputy violated the owner's due process rights when he demanded access to his property through a locked gate without a warrant.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Oberto, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: 1:17cv1260, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, property, Due Process