Providence Baptist Church v. Hillandale Committee, No. 04-4542.

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Clay
• Citation: 425 F.3d 309
• Docket Number: No. 04-4542.
• Decision Date: 05 October 2005
• Parties: PROVIDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, City of Euclid, Defendant-Appellee, v. HILLANDALE COMMITTEE, LTD., Intervenor-Appellant.

425 F.3d 309 PROVIDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees,
City of Euclid, Defendant-Appellee,
v.
HILLANDALE COMMITTEE, LTD., Intervenor-Appellant. No. 04-4542. United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. Argued: July 19, 2005. Decided and Filed: October 5, 2005.

Page 310

ARGUED: Gerald W. Phillips, Phillips & Co., LPA, Avon, Ohio, for Appellant. Gary F. Werner, Berns, Ockner & Greenberger, Cleveland, Ohio, Stephen M. O'Bryan, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Gerald W. Phillips, Phillips & Co., LPA, Avon, Ohio, for Appellant. Gary F. Werner, Sheldon Berns, Berns, Ockner & Greenberger, Cleveland, Ohio, Stephen M. O'Bryan, Majeed G. Makhlouf, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, Cleveland, Ohio, L. Christopher Frey, Law Director, City of Euclid, Euclid, Ohio, for Appellees.

Before: CLAY, GILMAN, and COOK, Circuit Judges.

Page 311

OPINION

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Intervenor, Hillandale Committee, Ltd. ("Hillandale Committee"), appeals from the order of the district court denying its motion to intervene in a dispute between Plaintiffs, Providence Baptist Church, Reverend Rodney Maiden, and Francine James (collectively, "Providence"), and Defendant, City of Euclid ("Euclid"). Hillandale Committee also appeals the district court's entry of a consent judgment in the case between Providence and Euclid.

This case arises from a challenge to the Euclid zoning code by Providence, which alleged violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc, et seq., and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1982 and 1988. Hillandale Committee moved to intervene in the lawsuit, asserting as grounds that in the absence of intervention, the results of a referendum on the zoning code could be nullified by a settlement between Euclid and Providence, and that Euclid might not adequately represent Hillandale Committee's purported interest in opposing the re-zoning or Hillandale Committee's purported interest in the protection of its referendum and free speech rights. The district court denied the motion to intervene and entered a consent judgment between Providence and Euclid after those parties reached a negotiated settlement terminating the litigation.

For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of Hillandale Committee's motion to intervene, and DISMISS Hillandale Committee's challenge to the consent judgment on the ground that Hillandale Committee lacks standing to bring that challenge.

BACKGROUND

Providence Baptist Church, established in 1921, has a predominantly African-American congregation of more than 1,200 members. Plaintiff Reverend Rodney Maiden has been the senior pastor of the church since 1980, and Plaintiff Francine James is an individual member of the church and Euclid resident. When Providence outgrew its location in Cleveland, it sought to purchase property in the nearby area. Providence identified 68.092 acres of land for that purpose in Euclid, Ohio. Euclid is approximately twelve miles northeast of downtown Cleveland, and has a population of approximately 52,000. Providence planned to build a worship facility and a single-family-home development, with homes to be offered for sale to members of the church and the general public.

Euclid's zoning code divides the city into twelve separate zoning districts delineating specific uses permitted in each district. The zoning code allows churches as a permitted use only in the U-R-2 District. At the time the U-R-2 designation was created, all existing churches were zoned U-R-2, but no other property is so classified. The property Providence planned to buy, except for a small portion, was zoned U7 Light Industrial Park District, to be used only for specific manufacturing and assembly processes and products. The remainder of the church's property was zoned U4 Local Retail or Wholesale Store Districts.

Prior to purchasing the property, Providence petitioned the city to re-zone the parcel on which it planned to construct its worship facility as U-R-2, and the parcel on which it planned to build the single family housing as the U-1 Single Family House District zoning classification. The city council passed ordinances which did just that on February 2, 2004. However, on March 1, 2004, referendum petitions were submitted to the city's finance director

Page 312

in order to place those ordinances on the ballot at the November 2, 2004 general election. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections was duly directed to submit the ordinances to the electors of the city at the November 2, 2004 election. Consequently, the ordinances did not become effective and Providence was unable to use its property for the planned worship facility and single-family development.

Providence purchased the property on April 18, 2004, and instituted this action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on April 21, 2004. Providence's complaint charged that the zoning code violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. An amended complaint, filed on September 24, 2004, added claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1982 and 1988 and claims for violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000cc, et seq.

On October 28, 2004, Hillandale Committee moved to intervene as a matter of right, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(A). In the motion to intervene, Hillandale Committee described itself as "the duly authorized committee which circulated the referendum petitions" to place the ordinances rezoning Providence's property on the ballot in the November 2, 2004 election. However, Hillandale Committee was not incorporated until October 20, 2004. Various pieces of campaign literature related to the referendum, which were submitted during the litigation before the district court by Hillandale Committee, do not bear Hillandale Committee's name, but that of the "Euclid Awareness Committee." In a sworn affidavit, Rebecca Conway ("Conway") stated that she was involved in the referendum petition process, and that there was "a referendum committee composed of six (6) members for the Rezoning Ordinances who represents the Hillandale Committee which initially was an unincorporated association of individuals, but who later formed the Hillandale Committee Ltd." (J.A. at 327.)

Hillandale Committee cited as grounds for its motion that its interest in opposing the rezoning, and that the right of the voters to vote on the ordinances at the November 2, 2004 election, could be threatened or nullified by a proposed settlement between Euclid and Providence. Hillandale Committee further argued that Euclid might not adequately represent Hillandale Committee's interest in opposing the rezoning and in protecting Hillandale Committee's constitutional referendum rights. Both Providence and Euclid filed memoranda in opposition to the motion to intervene.

On November 2, 2004, the voters of Euclid rejected the two re-zoning ordinances. On November 16, 2004, the district court denied Hillandale Committee's motion to intervene, on the grounds that it was procedurally defective because it was not accompanied by a pleading, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(c) and that it was mooted by the November 2, 2004 election.

Providence and Euclid then negotiated a settlement of the litigation. Providence and Euclid entered a consent judgment on November 17, 2004, in which they stipulated, and the district court found that Euclid's zoning code was unconstitutional as applied to Providence's property. The consent judgment permitted the development of the planned worship facility and single family housing. Various requirements related to the hiring of contractors and builders, the square footage of the various types of homes to be constructed, and the base prices of the homes, as well as a declaration of covenants, easements, and restrictions, were included in the consent judgment.

Page 313

Hillandale Committee filed a notice of appeal to this Court from the denial of the motion to intervene and the dismissal of the action pursuant to the consent judgment, on November 17, 2004. On January 12, 2005, Euclid and Providence filed a joint motion to dismiss the appeal as moot. This Court entered an order on March 15, 2005, denying it "at this time." The order held that

[t]he appellant has standing to appeal the denial of its motion to intervene. The issue of whether the appellant also has standing to appeal the consent judgment is complex and is intertwined with the merits of the intervention appeal. Therefore, the panel to be assigned to hear this appeal on the merits should decide whether the appellant's interest in the litigation equates to Article III standing for the purposes of pursuing an appeal of the consent judgment or whether the appeal is moot because no effective relief can be granted.

DISCUSSION

I. Denial of the Motion to Intervene for Failure to Comply with the Procedural Requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(c)

A. Standard of Review

This Court generally reviews de novo a district court's determination of whether a would-be intervenor has satisfied the elements required for intervention. However, we conclude that the appropriate review of the question of whether a motion to intervene should be dismissed for failure to satisfy the procedural requirements of Rule 24(c), as with the question of whether it should be dismissed for untimeliness, is for abuse of discretion. See Retired Chicago Police Ass'n v. City of Chicago, 7 F.3d 584, 595 (7th Cir.1993) ("Whether to permit a procedurally defective motion to intervene is within the sound discretion of the district court.") This approach accords with the general principle that "issues involving what can broadly be labeled `supervision of litigation'" are reviewed for abuse of discretion. Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552, 559, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 101 L.Ed.2d...