Hoagland v. Town of Clear Lake, Indiana

• Decision Date: 28 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 1:03-CV-241.,1:03-CV-241.
• Citation: 344 F.Supp.2d 1150
• Parties: Daniel HOAGLAND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. TOWN OF CLEAR LAKE, INDIANA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

344 F.Supp.2d 1150

Daniel HOAGLAND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. TOWN OF CLEAR LAKE, INDIANA, et al., Defendants.

No. 1:03-CV-241.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, Fort Wayne Division.

October 28, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John R. Price, John R. Price and Associates, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiffs.

Donald J. Stuckey, Van Horne Turner Stuckey and McCanna, Auburn, IN, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

COSBEY, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case is the latest chapter in a seven-year, multi-lawsuit feud between Defendant Town of Clear Lake, Indiana, and one of its residents, Plaintiff Daniel Hoagland.¹ The history of ill will and litigiousness between the parties is considerable: Hoagland has served multiple "Notices of Tort Claims" on Clear Lake (some demanding as much as $200,000,000), the parties have slugged it out twice in Indiana state court, and Hoagland has now alleged several violations of his constitutional rights in federal court. At one point, Hoagland even posted on his property a homemade "No Trespass" sign warning Clear Lake officials that "This land is privately owned by an American national, with sovereign rights of God the Creator," and making the startling claim that "Violations of the owners Private Christian, or property rights ... shall be assessed a civil penalty of one million dollars in U.S. Dollars for each violation," as well as "up to ten years in prison." (See Aff. of Robert Troll, Ex. 6.)

This bitter dispute centers on, of all things, Hoagland's preferred method of commuting to work. Hoagland routinely pilots a helicopter between his home in Clear Lake and his business in Fort Wayne, Indiana, roughly sixty-one miles away. To that end, his Clear Lake property includes a heliport, hangar, and two helicopter landing pads. Over the years, Clear Lake has made several attempts to limit Hoagland's use of these amenities, and Hoagland has fought them at every step.

The feud has now spilled over into federal court, with Hoagland bringing a flurry of federal constitutional and state-law claims, both for damages and for invalidation of certain Clear Lake ordinances.² However, for the reasons given below, none of Hoagland's federal claims survive summary judgment, and this Court must decline to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over Hoagland's state-law claims. In short, although Hoagland strives mightily to make a federal case out of his squabble with Clear Lake, he can get no relief here.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Clear Lake is a small town in the northeast corner of Indiana, with less than 300 residents and only one full-time government employee. (Troll Aff. ¶ 2.) Its ordinances include the 35-page-long Ordinance 84, a "Master Plan ... providing for the zoning of the incorporated area of the town," which aims to "regulat[e] the ... use of land" in Clear Lake. (Second Am. Compl., Ex. C at 1.)

On August 12, 1999, Clear Lake sued Hoagland in Steuben County Superior Court. (Id., Ex. B.) The original complaint alleged that the helicopter takeoffs and landings at Hoagland's residence constituted a "public nuisance" and prayed for a permanent injunction prohibiting them. (Id.) Although this complaint did not allege violations of any specific Clear Lake ordinances (see id.), Hoagland claims that Clear Lake later amended its complaint to allege violations of specific ordinances (Mem. of Law in Supp. of Pl.'s Mot. for Summ. J. at 5).³ However, a Clear Lake official later admitted that there were no ordinances at that time prohibiting helicopter use in the town. (Troll. Dep. at 60.) Hoagland answered the complaint and asserted counterclaims, including the charge that Clear Lake committed an "inverse condemnation" of his property. (Pl.'s Desig. of Evid., Ex. 7 ¶ 35.)

Hoagland and Clear Lake submitted the case to mediation on April 14, 2000. (Aff. of Daniel Hoagland ¶ 15.) According to Hoagland, Clear Lake officials repeatedly claimed at mediation that "an existing zoning ordinance clearly prohibited the use of his heliport and landing pad" (id. ¶ 16), even though, as noted above, no such ordinance existed at that time. Hoagland eventually acquiesced in a "Settlement Agreement" in which, among other conditions, Hoagland agreed to drop most of his claims and abide by several restrictions on his helicopter operations, while Clear Lake dropped its claims and promised to pay Hoagland an indeterminate sum "to be negotiated" with its insurance company.⁴ (Pl.'s Desig. of Evid., Ex. 10.) Hoagland avers that he agreed to this settlement only because of Clear Lake's alleged misrepresentations about an ordinance prohibiting use of his heliport. (Hoagland Aff. ¶ 20.) He also testifies that Clear Lake never paid him anything under the Settlement Agreement. (Id. ¶ 18.)

On May 8, 2000, Clear Lake began the process of amending Ordinance 84, the master zoning ordinance, to cover aircraft landing areas. (See Pl.'s Desig. of Evid., Ex. 13 at 1.) After many months of discussion by the Town Council and the Plan Commission (see Pl.'s Mem. in Supp. at 8-14), Clear Lake adopted Ordinance 268 on April 9, 2001 (Troll Aff., Ex. 8). Ordinance 268 designates an "[a]ircraft landing strip, pad, or space" as a "special use" requiring special permission of the Zoning Board of Appeals. (Id.; Second Am. Compl., Ex. C at 14.) It also provides that any preexisting unapproved aircraft landing area must be discontinued within five years of the ordinance's passage or upon transfer of the subject property (whichever comes first), subject to one exception which need not be detailed here.⁵ (Troll Aff., Ex. 8.)

In August 2001, Hoagland applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for a "Public Use Designation" for his heliport. (Hoagland Aff. ¶ 30.) According to Hoagland, Clear Lake falsely told the Administration that a court order prohibited public use of the heliport, and the Administration denied his application as a result. (Id.)

Hoagland reports that he recently brought a new lawsuit against Clear Lake in Steuben County Superior Court. The new suit alleges contract and tort claims based on Clear Lake's alleged failure to pay Hoagland under the Settlement Agreement, and it remains pending in state court. (Pl.'s Mem. in Supp. at 15.) Hoagland claims that, in the course of this new suit, he discovered for the first time that there was no ordinance prohibiting use of his heliport when Clear Lake first sued him in 1999. (See id. at 6-8.)

Hoagland filed the instant suit on June 23, 2003. (See Compl.) The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on July 30, 2004. (Docket # 54, 59.) Hoagland also filed a motion to strike (Docket # 68) and a motion for oral argument (Docket # 72), and Clear Lake filed two motions to strike (Docket # 61, 73) and a motion for leave to file supplemental affidavits (Docket # 74). All are now ripe for decision.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment may be granted only if there are no disputed genuine issues of material fact. Payne v. Pauley, 337 F.3d 767, 770 (7th Cir.2003). When ruling on a motion for summary judgment, a court "may not make credibility determinations, weigh the evidence, or decide which inferences to draw from the facts; these are jobs for a factfinder." Id. The only task in ruling on a motion for summary judgment is "to decide, based on the evidence of record, whether there is any material dispute of fact that requires a trial." Waldridge v. Am. Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 920 (7th Cir.1994). If the evidence is such that a reasonable factfinder could return a verdict in favor of the nonmoving party, summary judgment may not be granted. Payne, 337 F.3d at 770. A court must construe the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and avoid "the temptation to decide which party's version of the facts is more likely true," as "summary judgment cannot be used to resolve swearing contests between litigants." Id. However, "a party opposing summary judgment may not rest on the pleadings, but must affirmatively demonstrate that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial." Id. at 771.

The existence of cross-motions for summary judgment does not necessarily mean that there are no genuine issues of material fact. R.J. Corman Derailment Services, Inc. v. Int'l Union of Operating Eng'rs, 335 F.3d 643, 647 (7th Cir.2003). Rather, the process of taking the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, first for one side and then for the other, may reveal that neither side has enough to prevail without a trial. Id. at 648. "With cross-motions, [the Court's] review of the record requires that [the Court] construe all inferences in favor of the party against whom the motion under consideration is made." O'Regan v. Arbitration Forums, Inc., 246 F.3d 975, 983 (7th Cir.2001) (quoting Hendricks-Robinson v. Excel Corp., 154 F.3d 685, 692 (7th Cir.1998)).

IV. DISCUSSION

Hoagland brings a dizzying array of claims in this case. He first argues that Ordinances 84, 268, § 154.045, and 288 ("the Ordinances") should be invalidated because (1) they are preempted by federal law; (2) Clear Lake was never properly incorporated and thus has no power to adopt ordinances; (3) the heliport is outside Clear Lake's territorial limits and thus not subject to the Ordinances; and (4) the Ordinances were not enacted pursuant to a valid "comprehensive plan." He then claims that Clear Lake, and in some cases the other individual defendants, owe him damages for (5) inversely condemning his property, which entitles him to just compensation under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment; (6) violating 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by depriving him of several constitutional rights; (7) violating 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985 and 1986 by conspiring to deprive him of constitutional rights and failing to prevent such a conspiracy; and (8) committing actual or constructive fraud.

Of these claims, only (1), (5), (6), and (7) arise under federal law....