Apasra Properties, LLC v. City of New Orleans

31 So. 3d 615, 2009 La.App. 4 Cir. 0709, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 207, 2010 WL 487164
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 11, 2010
Docket2009-CA-0709
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 31 So. 3d 615 (Apasra Properties, LLC v. City of New Orleans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Apasra Properties, LLC v. City of New Orleans, 31 So. 3d 615, 2009 La.App. 4 Cir. 0709, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 207, 2010 WL 487164 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

| ,The plaintiffs/appellants, Apasra Properties, LLC (“Apasra”) and O’Reilly Properties, LLC (“O’Reilly”), filed this action against the City of New Orleans (“the City”) and the Vieux Carre Commission (“VCC”), seeking to enjoin the administrative proceedings brought against them by the City and the VCC. Proceedings were and are pending before the City’s Administrative Adjudication Bureau for Public Health, Housing and Environmental Violations, Department of Health (“AAB”) against Apasra and O’Reilly. They contend that the City’s ordinances, M.C.S. 6-31, et seq., creating the AAB to adjudicate alleged violations of ordinances of the City and VCC, are unconstitutional and the enforcement of city code violations rest exclusively with the City’s Municipal Court. The trial court denied the plaintiffs/appellants’ request for a writ of preliminary injunction finding that, pursuant to M.C.S. 6-31, et seq., the AAB, whose established authority is consistent with the City’s Home Rule Charter, shares concurrent jurisdiction with the City’s Municipal Court to adjudicate the plaintiffs/appellants’ alleged municipal ordinance violations. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the | gtrial court judgment that denied the writ of preliminary injunction. M.C.S. 6-31, et seq. is not unconstitutional and the AAB and the City’s Municipal Court do have concurrent jurisdiction over some issues; however, we hold that the AAB and Municipal Court do not have concurrent jurisdiction over the claims now pending against Apasra and O’Reilly. We remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings, including allowing the plaintiffs/appellants to amend their pleadings to state a cause of action in conformity with the reasons set forth herein.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND COURSE OF PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Apasra and O’Reilly are owners of immovable property located on Decatur Street in New Orleans, all of which are *618 situated within the boundaries of the Vieux Carre, 1 as defined by Chapter 166 of the Municipal Code of the City (“the Code”). 2 The City, through the VCC, inspected and cited four buildings owned by the plaintiffs/appellants, respectively, for alleged violations of historic district ordinances found in the Code at Article IV, Sections 166-21, 166-83, 166-93, 166-35, 166-89, and 166-91 of Chapter 166. According to the record, all four properties were cited by the VCC multiple times and Notice of Violations letters forwarded by certified mail to the plaintiffs/appellants informing them that their ^violations were set to be heard before the City, through the AAB. Some of the alleged violations have been adjudicated and others remain pending. 3

The plaintiffs/appellants jointly filed a Petition for Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary Injunction and Declaratory Judgment seeking to enjoin the administrative proceedings brought against them by the defendant, asserting the unconstitutionality of M.C.S. 6-31 et seq. Specifically, the prayer of Apasra’s and O’Reilly’s petition reads as follows:

WHEREFORE, plaintiffs, Apasra Properties, LLC and O’Reilly Properties, LLC, pray that the defendants, City of New Orleans and Vieux Carre Commission, be cited to appear and answer and after due proceedings had there be judgment herein enjoining the enforcement of the ordinance contained in Code Section 6-31 through 6-41 against the plaintiffs for Vieux Carre violation on Chapter 166 of the code, or declaring same to be unconstitutional; and that a preliminary injunction be issued after a hearing herein enjoining the enforcements of the ordinance of the City of New Orleans contained in Code Section 6-31 through 6-41 against the plaintiffs during the pendency of these proceedings; and that a temporary restraining order issue herein without a hearing until the hearing on the preliminary injunction; and for all general and *619 equitable relief and all costs of these proceedings! 4 ] [Reproduced verbatim.]

|40n the date of the filing of the petition, the trial judge granted a temporary restraining order without bond, ordering the City and the VCC to refrain and desist from any attempted enforcement of City Code Sections 6-31 through 6-45 pending the hearing on the preliminary injunction. 5

At the hearing on the preliminary injunction, all evidence was introduced via the verified pleadings and affidavits per La. C.C.P. art. 3609 and the matter was taken under advisement. On 6 March 2009, the trial court, without assigning oral or written reasons, issued a judgment denying the plaintiffs/appellants’ request for a writ of preliminary injunction. The court effectively held that the Code, ie., M.C.S. 6-31, et seq., authorizing the creation of the AAB and establishing the procedure by which the AAB operates, “... create[s] a court with jurisdiction concurrent with that of the Municipal Court.” The court ruled that the provisions of M.C.S. 6-31, et seq. are consistent with the provisions of the City’s Home Rule Charter, and that the violations alleged against the plaintiffs/appellants fall within the jurisdiction of the AAB as set forth in M.C.S. 6-31, et seq.

Apasra and O’Reilly timely appealed the judgment asserting the trial court erred in denying their request for injunctive relief prohibiting the adjudication of proceedings currently pending before the AAB on four grounds: (1) adjudication of the charges against them by the AAB violates the 1974 La. Const, art. I §§ 1 and 2 and art. V, §§ 1, 15, and 32, particularly in light of the court’s finding that “M.C.S. 6-31[sic] et seq., attempts to create a court with jurisdiction concurrent with that of the Municipal Court;” (2) the creation of the AAB violates City Home Rule Charter § 4-103, which states that “no department nor board shall be created | sexcept as provided in this Chapter;” (3) the plaintiffs/appellants’ alleged violations are not “health, housing or environmental” violations as defined in M.C.S. 6-31, et seq.; and (4) La. R.S. 13:2575 does not confer authority to maintain an administrative adjudication bureau for the City since the City’s current population does not meet the applicable minimum of 450,000 individuals. We find no merit to the plaintiffs/appellants’ assignments of error numbers (1), (2), and (4), and specifically recognize that 1921 La. Const, art. XIV, § 22(A) provides the requisite authority for the City to create the AAB to adjudicate violations of the City’s and VCC’s ordinances respecting the Vieux Carre, and that 1974 La. Const, art. VI, § 17 retained this authority for the VCC. However, we agree with the plaintiffs/appellants that, as currently written, M.C.S. 6-31, et seq. does not vest in the AAB jurisdiction to adjudicate historical violations such as those at issue in the instant case. Accordingly, we find the appellant’s third assignment of error has merit; however, for reasons set forth infra and in view of the prayer in the petition, we cannot grant the plaintiffs/appellants the relief that they request.

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Bluebook (online)
31 So. 3d 615, 2009 La.App. 4 Cir. 0709, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 207, 2010 WL 487164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/apasra-properties-llc-v-city-of-new-orleans-lactapp-2010.