Clark v. Boscher, 06-2473.
| Citation | 514 F.3d 107 |
| Decision Date | 31 January 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-2473.,06-2473. |
| Parties | Arthur L. CLARK, individually; Rita M. Clark, individually; Raymond A. Clark, Trustee of the E. Mt. Rd. Nominee Trust, and as Trustee of the Arthur L. Clark Family Trust and as Trustee of the Clark Sons Realty Trust; Richard J. Clark, Trustee of the E. Mt. Rd. Nominee Trust, and as Trustee of the Arthur L. Clark Family Trust and as Trustee of the Clark Sons Realty Trust; James F. Clark, Trustee of the E. Mt. Rd. Nominee Trust, and as Trustee of the Arthur L. Clark Family Trust and as Trustee of the Clark Sons Realty Trust; Arthur J. Clark, Trustee of the. E. Mt. Rd. Nominee Trust, and as Trustee of the Arthur L. Clark Family Trust and as Trustee of the Clark Sons Realty Trust; Theodore Perez, individually; Golden Acres Development Corp., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Lynne BOSCHER, Philip McEwan, Kevin Bowler, Anthony Petrucelli, Randall Racine, John Wysocki, William Onyski and Andrew Denardo, individually and as Members of the Westfield Planning Board During 2003; John Sullivan, Ronald Cole and Thomas Flaherty, individually and as Westfield Sewer Commissioners During 2002; Jana Cantuccio, Joseph Spagnoli and Lee Perez, individually and as Westfield Water Commissioners During 2002; Richard K. Sullivan, individually and as Mayor of the City of Westfield; and Charles Medeiros, Barbara Swords, Adam Liptak, Jr., David Bannish, Brent Bean, Brian Sullivan, Christopher Crean, James Casey, Martin Canty, Daniel Knapik, and Christopher Keefe, individually and as Members of the Westfield City Council During 2003, Defendants, Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit) |
William J. Pudlo, for appellants.
Kenneth C. Pickering, with whom Jessica H. Munyon and Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, LLP, were on brief, for appellees.
Before BOUDIN, Chief Judge, TORRUELLA and DYK,* Circuit Judges.
Appellants Arthur L. and Rita M. Clark, the trustees of the several Clark family trusts, Theodore Peérez, and Golden Acres Development Corporation (collectively, "Appellants") brought suit against the former mayor of the City of Westfield and various former city council members and commissioners (collectively, "Westfield") for obstructing the development of a residential subdivision on their land. Appellants asserted constitutional substantive due process and equal protection claims and sought monetary damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The District Court for the District of Massachusetts, on recommendation from the magistrate judge, dismissed Appellants' suit under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failing to state claims upon which relief could be granted. Appellants now appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the district court's dismissal.
Arthur L. and Rita M. Clark acquired several parcels of land in Westfield, Massachusetts, which they sought to develop as a residential subdivision. In furtherance of this plan, they transferred portions of their real estate holdings to various family trusts (collectively, "the Clarks") and hired an engineering firm to prepare the necessary subdivision plans.
The Clarks' first subdivision plan was submitted to the City of Westfield's Planning Board in 1997. Following a hearing, the Planning Board rejected the plan because it included a fifty-foot strip of land. surrounding Chapin Pond that was allegedly owned by the city. The Clarks unsuccessfully revised and resubmitted the plan four times between 1997 and 2001.1 In 1998 the Clarks also filed a petition in the Massachusetts Land Court to compel the city to try title to Chapin Pond. Nine years later on March 2, 2007, the Land Court found the City of Westfield to be the record title holder of Chapin Pond.2
In 2001, the Clarks entered into an agreement with their neighbor and Co-Appellant Theodore Peérez to combine their contiguous lands and develop them into residential subdivisions. Together they created the Golden Acres Development Corporation and in December 2001 submitted plans for two proposed subdivisions to the Westfield Planning Board.3 The Planning Board summarily rejected both these proposals in February 2002.
These same two plans were revised and resubmitted one month later. Concurrently, the Clarks' attorney sent a letter to the Westfield City Council requesting that the city's master plan take into account the increased water and sewage capacity required by the Clarks' proposed subdivisions. The request was unanimously rejected by the City Council and in April 2002, the Planning Board also rejected at least one of Appellants' revised subdivision plans because it included property over which the city claimed ownership.
In June 2002, the Clarks' engineer met with the Westfield Water Commission to connect the proposed subdivisions to the municipal water supply. At that meeting the engineer was advised that the commissioners did not intend to grant Appellants municipal water service because "the City did not want the project there." Despite the finding by a Water Department contractor that the loop created by the proposed subdivisions would benefit the entire city with increased water pressure and flow, the Water Commission voted to formally deny the Clarks' request on July 12, 2002. On September 6, 2002, Appellants filed suit against the Water Commission in Massachusetts Superior Court. The suit was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Appellants assert that they were denied municipal water service because they failed to first secure a connection to the municipal sewer line. While the request before the Water Commission was pending, however, the Clarks' engineer also petitioned the Westfield Sewer Commission for service, and was turned down because Appellants had not yet been connected to the municipal water line. The Sewer Commission was also concerned about the sewer system's capacity and the Appellants' proposed number of lots, and it indicated that any excess capacity that existed in the sewer system would be allocated to other developers who had previously requested service.
In October 2002, Appellants submitted their final subdivision plan to the Westfield Planning Board. Due to the denial of municipal water and sewage service, this plan proposed fewer lots and relied on the use of on-site water and waste disposal systems. This time the Planning Board solicited comments from all interested municipal boards and commissions, and the Water Commission responded by expressing its concern that the proposed subdivision would threaten the municipal water supply and that its primary access route crossed Over a dam. The city's health director also worried about the impact that the onsite septic systems would have on the underlying aquifer, and recommended that the city consider granting access to the municipal sewer and water lines. After a public hearing, the Planning Board voted to deny the modified plan on January 3, 2003.
On January 24, 2003, Appellants responded by filing a complaint against the Planning Board and the Water Commission in Massachusetts Land Court. The Land Court eventually dismissed all claims against the Water Commission for lack of jurisdiction.4 In April 2003, Appellants also filed a new request with the Westfield Sewer Commission to gain access to the municipal sewer line.5
On October 7, 2003, the City of Westfield exercised its eminent domain power to occupy thirty-eight acres of Peérez's property for the purpose of water supply protection. Appellants allege that such taking rendered their development plans unfeasible, as the proposed subdivision's access to the municipal roadway was planned through the Peérez land.
Appellants filed the instant suit in district court on July 8, 2005, asserting violations of the due process and equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment, and requesting damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.6 They alleged that Westfield conspired to interfere with the residential development of their lands. Westfield moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and the district court referred the matter to a magistrate judge.
On August 14, 2006, the magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation that Appellants' claims be dismissed because "land usage controversies between a plaintiff and state or local administrative and political entities do not rise to the level of due process violations, absent evidence of `fundamental procedural irregularity, racial animus, or the like,'" which Appellants did not allege or produce. Report and Recommendation With Regard to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss at 7, Clark v. Boscher, No. 05-30163-MAP (D.Mass. August 14, 2006)(quoting Matney v. City of N. Adams, 359 F.Supp.2d 20, 23 (D.Mass. 2005) (internal quotations omitted)). The magistrate judge also recommended dismissal for the equal protection claim. Having failed to raise a colorable constitutional or federal statutory cause of action, Appellants were not entitled to recovery under § 1983. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation in its entirety and dismissed Appellants' claims.
We review a district court's grant of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss de novo. Garita Hotel Ltd. P'ship v. Ponce Fed. Bank, F.S.B., 958 F.2d 15, 17 (1st Cir.1992). In doing so, we accept as true all of Appellants' well-pleaded facts "indulging all reasonable inferences therefrom." Ramos-Pinero v. Puerto Rico, 458 F.3d 48, 51 (1st Cir.2006). Nonetheless, we reject "`unsupported conclusions or interpretations of law.'" Stein v. Royal Bank of Canada, 239 F.3d 389, 392 (1st Cir.2001) (quoting Wash. Legal Found. v. Mass. Bar Found., 993 F.2d 962, 971 (1st Cir.1993)). To survive Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, Appellants' well-pleaded facts must "possess enough heft to `sho[w] that [Appellants are] entitled to relief.'" Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1959, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2...
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