Kenneth Slater, a Partner in the Municipal & State Government Group, recently secured a ruling on federal civil rights claim related to municipal blight citations in the matter of Enrico Mangiafico vs. Town of Farmington, et al.
The matter has a long and complex substantive and procedural history involving the plaintiff’s home in Farmington and the attempts of town officials to enforce an anti-blight ordinance against him. The plaintiff filed two lawsuits in the Superior Court after blight assessments were imposed against him and liens filed on his property. His original complaint, which sought damages and attorneys’ fees, was based on several theories and included claims that town’s actions under its blight ordinance violated his substantive and procedural due process rights and constituted an unlawful taking of his property.
Both suits were dismissed because the plaintiff had not first pursued an appeal of the citation assessment to the Superior Court as allowed by statute. The dismissal was affirmed by the Appellate Court. However, the Connecticut Supreme Court granted certiorari on the limited issue of whether the plaintiff could pursue constitutional civil rights claims against the town even though it didn’t appeal the assessment. The Supreme Court decided to reverse its earlier precedent and found that the constitutional claim seeking substantial damages and attorneys’ fees could proceed regardless of whether the state remedy of an appeal is filed.
A trial was then held on the civil rights claim. After several days of evidence, the Court found in favor of the Town and several of its individually-named officials, and ruled after making extensive factual findings that:
This court does not find that plaintiff suffered a ‘taking’ as a result of the town’s actions…The town was attempting to provide relief to the neighboring property owners from the burden plaintiff has placed on them by keeping his building in blight condition in this residential neighborhood…The town tried to work with the plaintiff in many different ways, at many times, and also gave plaintiff the benefit of his arguments that outside forces were causing his delays, but plaintiff refused to cooperate, leaving his property in shambles in this residential neighborhood. The plaintiff presented no proof whatsoever that any of the town’s activities deprived him from finishing his home or forcing him to live elsewhere.
Halloran Sage attorneys Duncan Forsyth and Logan Carducci were additional members of the defense team.