Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams

• Decision Date: 22 March 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-1601.,03-1601.
• Citation: 544 U.S. 113
• Parties: CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES ET AL. v. ABRAMS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

544 U.S. 113

CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES ET AL. v. ABRAMS

No. 03-1601.

Supreme Court of United States.

Argued January 19, 2005.

Decided March 22, 2005.

After petitioner City denied respondent Abrams permission to construct a radio tower on his property, he filed this action seeking, inter alia, injunctive relief under § 332(c)(7)(B)(v) of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U. S. C. § 332(c)(7), as added by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TCA), and money damages under 42 U. S. C. § 1983. Section 332(c)(7) imposes specific limitations on the traditional authority of state and local governments to regulate the location, construction, and modification of wireless communications facilities, and provides, in § 332(c)(7)(B)(v), that anyone "adversely affected by any final action ... by [such] a ... government ... may ... commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction." The District Court held that § 332(c)(7)(B)(v) provided the exclusive remedy for the City's actions and, accordingly, ordered the City to grant respondent's application for a conditional-use permit, but refused respondent's request for damages under § 1983. The Ninth Circuit reversed on the latter point.

Held: An individual may not enforce § 332(c)(7)'s limitations on local zoning authority through a § 1983 action. The TCA — by providing a judicial remedy different from § 1983 in § 332(c)(7) itself — precluded resort to § 1983. Pp. 119-127.

(a) Even after a plaintiff demonstrates that a federal statute creates an individually enforceable right in the class of beneficiaries to which he belongs, see Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273, 285, the defendant may rebut the presumption that the right is enforceable under § 1983 by, inter alia, showing a contrary congressional intent from the statute's creation of a "comprehensive remedial scheme that is inconsistent with individual enforcement under § 1983," Blessing v. Freestone, 520 U.S. 329, 341. The Court's cases demonstrate that the provision of an express, private means of redress in the statute itself is ordinarily an indication that Congress did not intend to leave open a remedy under § 1983. Pp. 119-120.

(b) Congress could not have meant the judicial remedy expressly authorized by § 332(c)(7) to coexist with an alternative remedy available under § 1983, since enforcement of the former through the latter would distort the scheme of expedited judicial review and limited remedies created by § 332(c)(7)(B)(v). The TCA adds no remedies to those available under § 1983, and limits relief in ways that § 1983 does not. In contrast to a § 1983 action, TCA judicial review must be sought within 30 days after the governmental entity has taken "final action," and, once the action is filed, the court must "hear and decide" it "on an expedited basis." § 332(c)(7)(B)(v). Moreover, unlike § 1983 remedies, TCA remedies perhaps do not include compensatory damages, and certainly do not include attorney's fees and costs. The Court rejects Abrams's arguments for borrowing § 332(c)(7)(B)(v)'s 30-day limitations period, rather than applying the longer statute of limitations authorized under 42 U. S. C. § 1988 or 28 U. S. C. § 1658, in § 1983 actions asserting § 332(c)(7)(B) violations. Pp. 120-125.

(c) In concluding that Congress intended to permit plaintiffs to proceed under § 1983, the Ninth Circuit misinterpreted the TCA's so-called "saving clause," which provides: "This Act ... shall not be construed to ... impair ... Federal ... law." Construing § 332(c)(7), as this Court does, to create rights that may be enforced only through the statute's express remedy, does not "impair" § 1983 because it leaves § 1983's pre-TCA operation entirely unaffected. Pp. 125-127.

354 F. 3d 1094, reversed and remanded.

SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and O'CONNOR, KENNEDY, SOUTER, THOMAS, GINSBURG, and BREYER, JJ., joined. BREYER, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which O'CONNOR, SOUTER, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, post, p. 127. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 129.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT.

Jeffrey A. Lamken argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were T. Peter Pierce, Gregory M. Kunert, and Nicholas P. Miller.

James A. Feldman argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With him on the brief were Acting Solicitor General Clement, Assistant Attorney General Keisler, Deputy Solicitor General Hungar, and Thomas M. Bondy.

Seth P. Waxman argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were William T. Lake, Jonathan J. Frankel, Paul R. Q. Wolfson, Brian W. Murray, Wilkie Cheong, Christopher D. Imlay, and David J. Kaufman.^*

JUSTICE SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court.

We decide in this case whether an individual may enforce the limitations on local zoning authority set forth in § 332(c)(7) of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U. S. C. § 332(c)(7), through an action under Rev. Stat. § 1979, 42 U. S. C. § 1983.

I

Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TCA), 110 Stat. 56, to promote competition and higher quality in American telecommunications services and to "encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies." Ibid. One of the means by which it sought to accomplish these goals was reduction of the impediments imposed by local governments upon the installation of facilities for wireless communications, such as antenna towers. To this end, the TCA amended the Communications Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 1064, to include § 332(c)(7), which imposes specific limitations on the traditional authority of state and local governments to regulate the location, construction, and modification of such facilities, 110 Stat. 151, codified at 47 U. S. C § 332(c)(7). Under this provision, local governments may not "unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services," § 332(c)(7)(B)(i)(I), take actions that "prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services," § 332(c)(7)(B)(i)(II), or limit the placement of wireless facilities "on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions," § 332(c)(7)(B)(iv). They must act on requests for authorization to locate wireless facilities "within a reasonable period of time," § 332(c)(7)(B)(ii), and each decision denying such a request must "be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record," § 332(c)(7)(B)(iii). Lastly, § 332(c)(7)(B)(v), which is central to the present case, provides as follows:

"Any person adversely affected by any final action or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with this subparagraph may, within 30 days after such action or failure to act, commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction."

Respondent Mark Abrams owns a home in a low-density, residential neighborhood in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes, California (City). His property is located at a high elevation, near the peak of the Rancho Palos Verdes Peninsula. Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams, 101 Cal. App. 4th 367, 371, 124 Cal. Rptr. 2d 80, 82 (2002). The record reflects that the location is both scenic and, because of its high elevation, ideal for radio transmissions. Id., at 371-372, 124 Cal. Rptr. 2d, at 82-83.

In 1989, respondent obtained a permit from the City to construct a 52.5-foot antenna on his property for amateur use.¹ He installed the antenna shortly thereafter, and in the years that followed placed several smaller, tripod antennas on the property without prior permission from the City. He used the antennas both for noncommercial purposes (to provide an amateur radio service and to relay signals from other amateur radio operators) and for commercial purposes (to provide customers two-way radio communications from portable and mobile transceivers, and to repeat the signals of customers so as to enable greater range of transmission). Ibid.

In 1998, respondent sought permission to construct a second antenna tower. In the course of investigating that application, the City learned that respondent was using his antennas to provide a commercial service, in violation of a City ordinance requiring a "conditional-use permit" from the City Planning Commission (Commission) for commercial antenna use. See Commission Resolution No. 2000-12 ("A Resolution of the Planning Commission of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes Denying With Prejudice Conditional Use Permit No. 207 for the Proposed Commercial Use of Existing Antennae on an Existing Antenna Support Structure, Located at 44 Oceanaire Drive in the Del Cerro Neighborhood"), App. to Pet. for Cert. 54a. On suit by the City, Los Angeles County Superior Court enjoined respondent from using the antennas for a commercial purpose. Rancho Palos Verdes, supra, at 373, 124 Cal. Rptr. 2d, at 84; App. to Pet. for Cert. 35a.

Two weeks later, in July 1999, respondent applied to the Commission for the requisite conditional-use permit. The application drew strong opposition from several of respondent's neighbors. The Commission conducted two hearings and accepted written evidence, after which it denied the application. Id., at 54a-63a. The Commission explained that granting respondent permission to operate commercially "would perpetuate . . . adverse visual impacts" from respondent's existing antennas and establish precedent for similar projects in residential areas in the future. Id., at 57a. The Commission also concluded that denial of respondent's application was consistent with 47 U. S. C. § 332(c)(7), making specific findings that its action complied with each of that provision's requirements. App. to Pet. for Cert. 61a-62a. The city council denied respondent's appeal. Id., at 52a. See generally No. CV00-09071-SVW (RNBx) (CD Cal., Jan. 9, 2002), App. to Pet. for Cert. 22a-23a.

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