NORTH PACIFICA LLC v. CITY
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in NORTH PACIFICA LLC v. CITY, No. 05-16069, a civil rights appeal. The panel consisted of J. Clifford Wallace, Procter Hug, Jr., and Mary M. Schroeder, Circuit Judges.
SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge:
These appeals arise out of a convoluted series of events illustrating the friction that can grow between a developer trying to secure approval of a condominium project as quickly as possible, and a city trying to use development permit procedures to avoid all foreseeable future problems. The plaintiff-developer is North Pacifica LLC and the defendant is the City of Pacifica. The conduct on the part of both sides has led to moving targets for litigation activity, and the entire project is still tied up in proceedings before the California Coastal Commission. The case presents a remarkable series of ironic twists. The developer originally sued the City for delays in approving its application for development permits, but because of a citizen’s appeal to the Coastal Commission, the development is still on hold, long after City approval. The district court awarded damages to the developer, not on the basis of any harm alleged in its original complaint, but because of a condition in the permit to which the developer never voiced any objection in the hearing before the City Council. The condition in question was inserted by outside counsel the City hired in order to avoid litigation, and the condition has, of course, had the opposite result. Finally, the district court correctly dismissed the substantive due process claim in the original complaint, but for the wrong reason, incorrectly treating it as a takings claim that required exhaustion of state court remedies, rather than as a substantive due process claim for delays that, contrary to the complaint’s allegations, were not unreasonable. See N. Pacifica, LLC v. City of Pacifica, 234 F. Supp. 2d 1053, 1064-66 (N.D. Cal. 2002). The disputes before us boil down to first, the developer’s contentions that we should resurrect its substantive due process claim and that we should remand for the award of addi. . .