Real Estate & Property Law

Two New Categories: Equal Protection, 42 U.S.C. § 1983/Civil Rights

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

Administrative note: I've added two new categories for indexing posts:

• Equal Protection

• 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Civil Rights

Equal protection comes up often in land use litigation when the government discriminates against a person for belonging to a protected class, and when a landowner asserts she was singled out for different treatment than others who are similarly situated (the "class of one" / Olech claim). The federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is a common vehicle to litigate constitutional land use claims in either federal or state courts:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer?s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

Since "property" is a right secured by the Constitution and laws, this statute provides a cause of action for claims such as regulatory takings, due process, and equal protection, among others.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on November 08, 2008 (boomark / email).