Texas Manufactured Housing Ass'n, Inc. v. City of Nederland

• Decision Date: 26 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-40803,95-40803
• Citation: 101 F.3d 1095
• Parties: TEXAS MANUFACTURED HOUSING ASSOCIATION, INC.; A.J. Waller, Sr., Plaintiffs-Appellants v. NEDERLAND, CITY OF; Zoning Board of Appeals, City of Nederland, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1095

101 F.3d 1095

TEXAS MANUFACTURED HOUSING ASSOCIATION, INC.; A.J. Waller, Sr., Plaintiffs-Appellants v. NEDERLAND, CITY OF; Zoning Board of Appeals, City of

Nederland, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 95-40803.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Dec. 26, 1996.

Douglas Brent Wells, James E. Cuellar, Jeffrey Lawton Henry, Wells & Henry, Houston, TX, William L. Ehrle, Sr., Ehrle & Associates P.C., Austin, TX, Warren Gambriel Clark, Jr., Provost & Umphrey, Port Arthur, TX, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Frank David Calvert, Debra A. Knight, Benckenstein & Oxford, Beaumont, TX, Glenn H. Steele, Jr., Richard Donald Hughes, Provost & Umphrey Law Firm, Port Arthur, TX, for defendants-appellees.

Karl J. Koch, Unglesby & Koch, Baton Rouge, LA, for Louisiana Mfd. Housing Ass'n and Mississippi Manufactured Housing Association, amicus curiae.

John J. Hightower, Olson & Olson, Houston, TX, for Texas Municipal League, Texas City Attorneys' Association, City of Houston, Texas, and City of La Porte, Texas, amicus curiae.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Before KING and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges, and KAZEN, ^* District Judge.

KING, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs appeal a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants on plaintiffs' multiple claims challenging a city ordinance that regulates the placement of manufactured housing ¹ within city limits. Finding no genuine issues of material fact as to any of plaintiffs' claims, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1970, the City of Nederland (the "City") adopted Ordinance 259, which prohibits the placement of "trailer coaches" on any lot within city limits except in a "duly authorized trailer park." Ordinance 259 defines "trailer coach" as "a transportable, single family dwelling unit which is or may be mounted on wheels suitable for year-round occupancy and containing the same water supply, waste disposal and electrical conveniences as immobile housing."

In 1994, A.J. Waller, Sr. ("Waller") applied to the City for a permit to place a "HUD-code manufactured home" on a lot that he had owned and occupied in Nederland since 1959. Under Texas law, a "HUD-code manufactured home" has characteristics identical to those of a mobile home except that a HUD-code manufactured home is built after June 15, 1976, and is constructed according to HUD standards. See Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5221f § 3 (Vernon Supp.1997). ² Waller intended to install the home on a permanent foundation system. The home would have replaced an aging, dilapidated, site-built home that Waller was then occupying.

The City determined that a HUD-code manufactured home was a "trailer coach" and denied Waller's application under Ordinance 259. Waller appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Nederland ("Zoning Board"). After a public hearing, the Zoning Board affirmed the City's denial of Waller's permit application.

The City and the Zoning Board have interpreted Ordinance 259 to include both HUD-code manufactured homes and mobile homes but not "industrialized" or "modular" homes. An "industrialized" or "modular" home is built off-site in modular components that are then transported to a residential site and erected on a permanent foundation. ³ Unlike manufactured housing, modular housing is not built on a permanent chassis and must be constructed according to local building code standards. See Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5221f-1 § 2 (Vernon 1987). The distinction between manufactured housing and modular housing is at the heart of plaintiffs' constitutional claims.

Waller and the Texas Manufactured Housing Association ("TMHA") (collectively, "plaintiffs") filed suit against the City and Zoning Board on June 29, 1994, challenging the enforcement of Ordinance 259 as discriminatory and unconstitutional. Plaintiffs claimed that defendants' actions amounted to a constitutional tort as well as a denial, under the United States Constitution, of substantive due process, equal protection, just compensation, privileges and immunities, and privacy. Plaintiffs also claimed that enforcement of Ordinance 259 impermissibly burdened interstate commerce and that both federal and state law preempted the subject matter of the ordinance. Plaintiffs sought relief for alleged constitutional violations both directly and under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

On September 7, 1995, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on all claims. The district court denied plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration.

On appeal, plaintiffs argue that the district court erred in granting summary judgment for defendants on plaintiffs' preemption, commerce clause, takings, substantive due process, equal protection, and § 1983 claims, and in granting defendants' motion to extend time for filing a motion for attorneys' fees.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same criteria used by the district court in the first instance. Norman v. Apache Corp., 19 F.3d 1017, 1021 (5th Cir.1994); Conkling v. Turner, 18 F.3d 1285, 1295 (5th Cir.1994). Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). After the movant has presented a properly supported motion for summary judgment, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to show with "significant probative evidence" that there exists a genuine issue of material fact. See Conkling, 18 F.3d at 1295. A fact is "material" if its resolution in favor of one party might affect the outcome of the lawsuit under governing law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). An issue is "genuine" if the evidence is sufficient for a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Id.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Preemption

1. Federal preemption

The doctrine of federal preemption is rooted in the Supremacy Clause and activated by congressional intent. See Fidelity Federal Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 152-53, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 3022, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982). Congress may either expressly define the extent to which state law is to be preempted by a federal statute, or implicitly preempt state law by regulating comprehensively so as to preclude state law from occupying any part of the regulated field. Id. Even where Congress has not entirely regulated a specific area, state law will be nullified to the extent it directly conflicts with federal law or hinders achievement of congressional objectives. Id.; see also Hetzel v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 50 F.3d 360, 363 (5th Cir.1995).

Plaintiffs argue that Ordinance 259 is preempted by the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (the "Act"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 5401-5426, which expressly prohibits state and local governments from establishing standards for the safety and construction of manufactured homes that differ from federal standards. See 42 U.S.C. § 5403(d). ⁴ Plaintiffs base their argument on isolated portions of testimony of City officials that purportedly establish that a HUD-code manufactured home would not be an acceptable structure on a private residential lot outside a trailer park because such a home would not comply with the "local building code." ⁵ Plaintiffs contend that this testimony raises a fact issue concerning whether Ordinance 259 imposes local safety and construction standards on HUD-code manufactured homes in contravention of the express will of Congress.

Plaintiffs rely on Scurlock v. City of Lynn Haven, 858 F.2d 1521 (11th Cir.1988), in which a permit to place a HUD-code manufactured home in one of the city's residential districts was denied because a local ordinance prohibited the placement in such a district of any home that did not comply with specified local codes. Id. at 1522-23. The Eleventh Circuit held that the ordinance was preempted because it attempted to impose greater safety requirements for manufactured homes than those mandated by the federal statute. Id. at 1525.

We agree with the district court that this case is significantly unlike Scurlock. The ordinance at issue in Scurlock excluded from certain residentially-zoned property any home that either did not meet the Southern Standard Building Code, the National Electrical Code, and the Electrical Code of the City of Lynn Haven, or did not bear the seal of the Florida Department of Community Affairs. As recognized by the Eleventh Circuit, the City of Lynn Haven was "attempting to exclude the Scurlock's mobile home from its R-AA section based solely on its safety code." Id. (emphasis added). Accordingly, much of the evidence at trial concerned the differences between HUD requirements and those contained in the specified codes. Id. at 1523. Ordinance 259, in contrast, regulates the placement and permitting of trailer coaches for the purpose of protecting property values and does not expressly link its provisions in any way to local safety and construction standards.

In Scurlock, the evidence showed that a HUD-code home would be permitted in the areas in question as long as it complied with local safety and construction codes (which imposed requirements different from and more stringent than HUD requirements), irrespective of any other applicable local regulations. The evidence in this case does not establish this specific, key fact. Plaintiffs have not cited evidence that identifies the actual requirements of the "local building code" that HUD-code manufactured homes fail to satisfy under the ordinance. This omission is fatal to plaintiffs' claim that the ordinance is a thinly veiled attempt to impose local safety and construction standards...