Doty v. City of Tampa

947 F. Supp. 468, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17681, 1996 WL 683649
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedNovember 18, 1996
DocketNo. 94-1154-CIV-T-17E
StatusPublished

This text of 947 F. Supp. 468 (Doty v. City of Tampa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doty v. City of Tampa, 947 F. Supp. 468, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17681, 1996 WL 683649 (M.D. Fla. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART, DENYING IN PART, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS THE COMPLAINT

' KOVACHEVICH, Chief Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Defendants, CITY OF TAMPA’s (hereinafter Tampa), WILLIAM SMITH’S (hereinafter inspector Smith), DENNIS E. MANELLI’s (hereinafter hearing master Manelh), and SAMUEL L. CANNON, JR.’s, (hereinafter hearing master Cannon) Renewed Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint1 and Memorandum of Law (Docket No. 42), and Plaintiff, JOHN F. DOTY’S (hereinafter Doty), Memorandum of Law in Opposition (Docket No. 45).

BACKGROUND

The Court recites the facts as stated by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals:

[Plaintiff] John Doty’s properties were cited for certain alleged violations of [Tampa’s] building code. Doty received no actual notice of the City of Tampa Code Enforcement Board’s (CEB) subsequent hearing on the citations and was not present. The CEB entered two orders fining Doty for the alleged violations. Once recorded, the fines created immediate hens on the cited properties. These hens “ran” to any other real or property owned by Doty.
Doty appealed the CEB’s orders to the state circuit court. A year later, the circuit court ruled that he had not received the notice required by due process of law and “reversed and remanded” the CEB orders.

(Docket No. 35, pp. 2-3) (Appeal No. 95-2051). A month prior to the state circuit [470]*470court ruling, however, Doty filed this action in federal district court.

After the state circuit court reversed and remanded, the Defendants moved to dismiss Doty’s claims under the doctrine of res judi-cata. This Court granted the motion, but the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded. (Docket No. 35). The circuit court opinion, however, was limited to the res judicata issue and did not address other issues such as ripeness. (Docket No. 35, p. 7 n. 5). Accordingly, this Court reopened the case and allowed the parties to renew motions if there were any issues remaining to be addressed. (Docket No. 37).

THE COMPLAINT

In Count I, Doty alleges that the Tampa Code Enforcement Board’s (CEB) failure to actually notify him of the violation hearing constitutes (1) a violation of procedural and substantive due process, U.S. Const, amend. XIV § 1, (2) a denial of Doty’s “day in court,” U.S. Const, amend. IV, V, and XIV § 1, and (3) a due process taking claim, see Eide v. Sarasota County, 908 F.2d 716, 723 (11th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1120, 111 S.Ct. 1073, 112 L.Ed.2d 1179 (1991).

In Count II, Doty alleges that Tampa, through inspector Smith, unlawfully entered and made a warrantless search of his rental property on six (6) occasions. U.S. Const. amend. IV. ...

In Count III, Doty alleges that the Defendants (Tampa, hearing masters Manelli and Cannon, and inspector Smith) conspired to deprive Doty of his property.

In Count IV, Doty seeks a declaratory judgment that Section 162.09, Fla.Stat. (1993), is unconstitutional on its face because its overly-broad language: (1) denies access to courts; (2) violates trial by jury; and (3) creates excessive fines. U.S. Const, amends. VII and VIII.

Finally, in Count V,2 Doty alleges that Tampa’s, inspector Smith’s, and hearing masters Manelli’s and Cannon’s actions constitute an arbitrary and capricious due process claim, also known as a substantive due process claim. See Eide, 908 F.2d at 722 n. 9.

All of the these counts are brought against the Defendants-municipal actors pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978).

DISMISSAL STANDARD

Under Conley v. Gibson, a district court should not dismiss a complaint “for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts” that would entitle the plaintiff to relief. 355 U.S. 41, 45, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); accord Bracewell v. Nicholson Air Services, Inc., 680 F.2d 103, 104 (11th Cir.1982). To survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff may not merely “label” his or her claims. Blumel v. Mylander, 919 F.Supp. 423, 425 (M.D.Fla.1996). At a minimum, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require “a short and plain statement of the claim” that “will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiffs claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Conley, 355 U.S. at 47, 78 S.Ct. at 103 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2)).

In deciding a motion to dismiss, this Court will. examine only the four corners of the complaint. Rickman v. Precisionaire, Inc., 902 F.Supp. 232 (M.D.Fla.1995). Also, the Court must accept a plaintiffs well pled facts as true and construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Howry v. Nisus, Inc., 910 F.Supp. 576 (M.D.Fla.1995).

RIPENESS

The first issue raised by the defendants is whether this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Counts I, III, and V, in that the claims contained therein are not “ripe” for federal judicial review. Specifically, the defendants argue that Doty fails to allege that he has exhausted all administrative and state judicial remedies. Doty contends that the [471]*471exhaustion requirement does not apply to his claims.

Counts I and III: Due Process Takings Claim.

With respect to Doty’s due process taking claim in Count I, and related conspiracy claim in Count III, he need not exhaust all state administrative and judicial procedures before bringing his section 1983 claim. However, Doty does have to satisfy the “finality” requirement. In Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, the federal Supreme Court explained the difference between finality and exhaustion:

[T]he finality requirement is concerned with whether the initial decisionmaker has arrived at a definitive position on the issue that inflicts an actual, concrete injury[.]

Whereas,

[T]he exhaustion requirement generally refers to administrative and judicial procedures by which an injured party may seek review of an adverse decision and obtain a remedy if the decision is found to be unlawful or otherwise inappropriate.

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Related

Tari v. Collier County
56 F.3d 1533 (Eleventh Circuit, 1995)
Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Scheuer v. Rhodes
416 U.S. 232 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Howry v. Nisus, Inc.
910 F. Supp. 576 (M.D. Florida, 1995)
Barr v. Matteo
360 U.S. 564 (Supreme Court, 1959)
Rickman v. Precisionaire, Inc.
902 F. Supp. 232 (M.D. Florida, 1995)
Blumel v. Mylander
919 F. Supp. 423 (M.D. Florida, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
947 F. Supp. 468, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17681, 1996 WL 683649, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doty-v-city-of-tampa-flmd-1996.