Ciampetti v. United States

18 Cl. Ct. 548, 20 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20726, 30 ERC (BNA) 1972, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 217, 1989 WL 129389
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedOctober 31, 1989
DocketNo. 440-87L
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 18 Cl. Ct. 548 (Ciampetti v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ciampetti v. United States, 18 Cl. Ct. 548, 20 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20726, 30 ERC (BNA) 1972, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 217, 1989 WL 129389 (cc 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

BRUGGINK, Judge.

Pending is defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Defendant has moved that the complaint be dismissed on one or all of several grounds. For the reasons that follow, defendant’s motion is denied. On grounds independent of those urged in defendant’s motion, plaintiffs’ claim is dismissed in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The property which is the subject of this inverse condemnation action is located within the Diamond Beach section of the Township of Lower, County of Cape May, in New Jersey. Diamond Beach is a rectangular parcel of land running roughly north to south, with its southernmost edge fronting the Atlantic Ocean. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) has determined that most of the property in the northern part of Diamond Beach comes within the definition of “wetlands” found in regulations promulgated under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (“the Clean Water Act”), 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1376 (1982). See 33 C.F.R. § 323.2(7)(c) (1986). This determination has been judicially upheld. United States v. Ciampitti (“Ciampitti I”), 583 F.Supp 483 (D.N.J.1984).2

New Jersey also designates as state wetlands much of the property in northern [550]*550Diamond Beach. The state wetlands area is nearly as extensive as the federal, and is contained entirely within the federal wetlands. Both the federal and state wetlands have irregular boundaries which do not conform to the grid of streets, city blocks, and smaller lots into which Diamond Beach is divided. Many of the lots and the blocks are only partially within the federal or state wetland area.

The property which plaintiffs allege has been taken consists of a collection of 573 rectangular lots, mostly of uniform size. These lots, not all of which are contiguous, are scattered throughout the entire Diamond Beach tract. Of the 573 lots, approximately 206 are wholly or partially within the area designated as federal wetlands. Approximately 167 of the 206 federal wetlands lots are also wholly or partially within state wetlands.3

Plaintiffs acquired the property identified in the complaint through a series of purchases beginning in September 1980 and continuing into 1987.4 When these purchases began, the property was at least partially undeveloped.5 In March 1983, plaintiff Robert Ciampitti learned of a 1907 riparian grant held by predecessors in interest of the Diamond Beach site. Defendant contends, and plaintiffs dispute, that plaintiff Robert Ciampitti, after learning of this grant, began filling and dredging without first applying for a state or federal wetlands permit. Despite plaintiffs denial, however, it is undisputed that on September 15, 1983, the Corps, citing violations of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, 30 Stat. 1151 (1899), (codified at 33 U.S.C. §§ 401-418 (1982)) (“the Rivers and Harbors Act”), and the Clean Water Act, issued a cease and desist order to Robert Ciampitti regarding illegal dredging and filling activity on the federal wetlands located in Diamond Beach. In addition, some of the property at issue, including portions of the land involved in plaintiffs’ present takings claim, was subject in August 1984 to a state cease and desist order regarding illegal filling and dredging in state wetlands.6

The Corps’ cease and desist order was plaintiffs’ first contact with the federal government in connection with the property now claimed taken, and lead ultimately to this inverse condemnation action. This action, however, was initiated only after an unsuccessful suit in state court against New Jersey, a law suit which included, inter alia, an inverse condemnation claim.

A. Plaintiffs’ Lawsuit Against New Jersey

The same plaintiffs involved in the present action filed suit against New Jer[551]*551sey in the Superior Court of New Jersey on May 14, 1984. (This was three months prior to New Jersey’s cease and desist order discussed above.) That law suit involved the same land described in the complaint filed here. Plaintiffs’ suit sought to quiet title by confirming the effects of the 1907 riparian grant. Plaintiffs challenged the applicability, in light of the grant, of the permit requirements of New Jersey’s Wetlands Act of 1970 (the “Wetlands Act”), NJ.Stat.Ann. §§ 13:9A-1—13:9A-10 (West 1979), and New Jersey’s Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (“CAFRA”), NJ.Stat.Ann. §§ 13:19-1—13:19-21 (West 1979). Plaintiffs claimed that the 1907 grant gave them the absolute right to dredge and fill in Diamond Beach, and that therefore no permits were required.

Plaintiffs also included an inverse condemnation count in the state action. They asserted that New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) had informed them that no Wetlands Act or CAF-RA permits would be granted for the property in question. Plaintiffs claimed that this alleged prospective denial of development permits constituted a compensable taking.7

Plaintiffs succeeded in their attempt to quiet title. The court held, however, that plaintiffs were not exempt from the permit requirements of CAFRA or those of the Wetlands Act. In a consent order issued on October 12,1984, the parties agreed to a stay of further proceedings in the action pending application by the plaintiffs for CAFRA permits.

Thereafter plaintiff Ciampitti initiated the pre-application process for obtaining the state CAFRA permits. Pre-application Environmental Impact Statement submit-tals described two different phases of proposed development—Diamond Beach Phase I and Diamond Beach Phase II. Most of the land in the Diamond Beach Phase I project lay in the southern portion of Diamond Beach, and therefore did not involve state or federal wetlands. Diamond Beach Phase I, however, did include some lots in the northern Diamond Beach area which were within the state and federal wetlands. Phase II covered land in the northernmost section of Diamond Beach, and included much of the land which is the subject of this law suit.

After the pre-application documents were filed, the DEP, by letter dated January 18, 1985, informed plaintiffs that CAFRA, wetlands, and waterfront development permits would be required for the proposed projects. The letter indicated that Diamond Beach Phase I was “conditionally acceptable,” while Phase II, which involved land in state wetlands, would not be consistent with the policies of the Wetlands Act and was therefore unacceptable.

A January 7, 1987 state court consent judgment conditionally approved the development proposed for Diamond Beach Phase I. Plaintiffs maintained then and continue to maintain now that this conditional approval did not constitute a CAFRA permit for Phase I and creates no inference that one would be granted.

The state action inverse condemnation count, which had been held in abeyance pending the administrative process, was dismissed. The court did not reach the question of whether permits were or were not conclusively denied.

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Bluebook (online)
18 Cl. Ct. 548, 20 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20726, 30 ERC (BNA) 1972, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 217, 1989 WL 129389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ciampetti-v-united-states-cc-1989.