Front Royal and Warren County Indus. Park Corp. v. Town of Front Royal, Va.
| Decision Date | 19 September 1991 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 90-1875,90-1884,s. 90-1875 |
| Citation | 945 F.2d 760 |
| Parties | FRONT ROYAL AND WARREN COUNTY INDUSTRIAL PARK CORPORATION, a Virginia Corporation; Fred W. McLaughlin; Gladys L. McLaughlin, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TOWN OF FRONT ROYAL, VIRGINIA, a municipal corporation; John Marlow, individually and as Mayor of the Town of Front Royal; Michael Kitts, individually and as a member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; Edwin L. Pomeroy, individually and as a former member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; Albert G. Ruff, Jr., individually and as a former member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; George E. Banks, individually and as a former member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; Brackenridge H. Bentley, individually and as Town Manager of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia, Defendants-Appellants, Virginia Association of Counties; Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, Incorporated, Amici Curiae. FRONT ROYAL AND WARREN COUNTY INDUSTRIAL PARK CORPORATION, a Virginia Corporation; Fred W. McLaughlin; Gladys L. McLaughlin, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. TOWN OF FRONT ROYAL, VIRGINIA, a municipal corporation; John Marlow, individually and as Mayor of the Town of Front Royal; Michael Kitts, individually and as a member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; Edwin L. Pomeroy, individually and as a former member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; Albert G. Ruff, Jr., individually and as a former member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; George E. Banks, individually and as a former member of the Town Council of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia; Brackenridge H. Bentley, individually and as Town Manager of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia, Defendants-Appellees, Virginia Association of Counties; Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, Incorporated, Amici Curiae. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Glenn M. Hodge, Wharton, Aldhizer & Weaver, Harrisonburg, Va., argued (Douglas L. Guynn, Mark D. Obenshain, Harrisonburg, Va., David N. Crump, Adamson, Crump & Sharp, Front Royal, Va., on brief), for defendants-appellants.
Harold Jonathan Krent, University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Va., argued (Harold P. Juren, G. Timothy Oksman, Joseph P. Rapisarda, Jr., Local Government Attys. of Virginia, Inc., Charlottesville, Va., C. Flippo Hicks, Virginia Ass'n of Counties, Richmond, Va., on brief), for amici curiae.
Robert C. Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald & Smith, P.C., Fairfax, Va., argued (Myron C. Smith, on brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before ERVIN, Chief Judge, and SPROUSE and WILKINS, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs in this consolidated § 1983 action are Warren County Industrial Park Corporation ("Front Royal Corporation") and two Front Royal, Virginia, landowners. They sought damages from the Town of Front Royal ("Front Royal") and several Front Royal officials, alleging that they violated plaintiffs' fifth and fourteenth amendment rights. Although plaintiffs had remedies available to them under state law, they did not pursue those remedies but instead came into federal court seeking relief. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs. We find that the district court should have abstained from ruling in this case and therefore vacate the order granting summary judgment.
Plaintiffs own parcels of land which were annexed by Front Royal in 1976 and 1978 pursuant to separate Annexation Court orders. The orders directed Front Royal to extend sewer service to the parcels of land covered by the annexation orders as expeditiously as practicable, but in any event within 5 years of the entry of the orders. Front Royal failed to extend sewer service to plaintiffs' parcels. As a result, plaintiffs sought to vindicate their rights under the fifth and fourteenth amendments and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Plaintiffs alleged that the refusal by the defendants to extend sewer service to their parcels deprived them of all economically viable uses of their property. Plaintiffs also contended that they were denied equal protection of the law because defendants provided sewer service to similarly situated landowners within the annexed area, while denying the same service to plaintiffs.
Defendants raised several affirmative defenses including absolute legislative immunity and executive qualified immunity. The district court granted plaintiffs' motion to strike the absolute immunity defense, and defendants appealed to this court in an interlocutory appeal. In a previous holding, we upheld the district court's holding that absolute legislative immunity was not available to defendants. Front Royal & Warren County Indus. Park Corp. v. Front Royal, 865 F.2d 77 (4th Cir.1989) ("Front Royal I ").
Thereafter, the district court granted plaintiffs' motion to strike defendants' asserted qualified immunity defense. Front Royal & Warren County Indus. Park Corp. v. Front Royal, 708 F.Supp. 1477, 1480-82 (W.D.Va.1989) ("Front Royal II "). On cross motions for summary judgment, the district court granted plaintiffs' motion on the § 1983 takings claim. Id. at 1483-85. The court rejected defendants' argument that (1) there was no compensable taking; and (2) adequate state remedies existed which should have counselled the district court to abstain from hearing the case at all. The district court also granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs on the equal protection claim. Id. at 1487. The court held that the actions taken by the town counsel served no legitimate governmental purpose and that the actions deprived plaintiffs of equal protection of the laws. After granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, the district court held a bench trial on the issue of damages and awarded the following amounts: $176,526.56 to the individual landowners and $489,072.59 to the Front Royal Corporation. Front Royal & Warren County v. Front Royal, 749 F.Supp. 1439, 1448-49 (W.D.Va.1990) ("Front Royal III ").
Both parties appealed from the judgment of the district court. Defendants alleged that there were numerous erroneous rulings by the district court, and plaintiffs asserted that the court should have awarded punitive damages.
The defendants and amici curiae urge us to abstain from ruling in this case. They assert that under Virginia law, alternative remedies were available to plaintiffs. In addition, they argue that land use policy is local in nature and that federal courts should not intrude into this area unless absolutely necessary.
We note at the outset that we are not barred from abstaining in this case because we previously issued an opinion in Front Royal I, 865 F.2d 77. There, we addressed the issue of absolute immunity on interlocutory appeal. We held that the district court's order dismissing the absolute immunity defense was immediately appealable. Front Royal I, 865 F.2d at 79. However, the fact that we had jurisdiction over the district court's order regarding absolute immunity did not permit us to review other claims raised below. See Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 662-63, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 2041-42, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977). We could have considered the abstention issue only if it fell within the exception to the final-judgment rule set out in Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 547, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 1226, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). Therefore, it is proper for us to now consider whether abstention is appropriate even though we have already issued an opinion in this case.
Plaintiffs argue that we should not consider the abstention issue because it was not raised by defendants, but was raised by amici curiae on this appeal. We note, however, that we may apply the abstention doctrine at our own instance even if no party urges the doctrine upon us. Caleb Stowe Associates, Ltd. v. County of Albemarle, 724 F.2d 1079, 1080 (4th Cir.1984); AFA Distributing Co. v. Pearl Brewing Co., 470 F.2d 1210, 1213 (4th Cir.1973). Therefore, we turn to the issue of whether we should abstain from ruling on the case before us.
In Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943), the Supreme Court set out a form of abstention which is appropriate in order to prevent unnecessary interference by the federal courts in the interpretation of a complex state regulatory scheme. This court has explained the purpose of the Burford abstention doctrine as follows:
The purpose of Burford abstention is to prevent a federal court from interfering with a "complex state regulatory scheme concerning important matters of state policy for which impartial and fair administrative determinations subject to expeditious and adequate judicial review are afforded." Aluminum Co. v. Utilities Commission of North Carolina, 713 F.2d 1024 (4th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1052, 104 S.Ct. 1326, 79 L.Ed.2d 722 (1984).
Browning-Ferris, Inc. v. Baltimore County, 774 F.2d 77, 79 (4th Cir.1985).
In Browning-Ferris, complex state regulations governing landfill operations were at issue. We held that abstention was proper based on the following reasons:
[T]he state regulations governing landfill operations are lengthy and detailed and involve complex scientific questions that must be reviewed before a permit for a waste disposal facility is approved. The Burford requirement that a complex state regulatory scheme be involved in order for a district court to abstain is sufficiently present in this case.
Additionally, land use questions, ... are the peculiar concern of local and state governments, and traditionally, federal courts have not interfered with state courts in the area of land use policy.
Id. at 79. Similarly, in Caleb Stowe Associates, 724 F.2d 1079 (4th Cir.1984), we abstained from deciding the case because it involved a matter of...
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