Ehsani-Landry v. Jefferson Parish

240 So. 3d 332
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 14, 2018
DocketNO. 17–CA–468
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 240 So. 3d 332 (Ehsani-Landry v. Jefferson Parish) 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
Ehsani-Landry v. Jefferson Parish, 240 So. 3d 332 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

CHAISSON, J.

In this property zoning dispute, Cameron Ehsani-Landry seeks appellate review of a trial court judgment that denied his Petition for Relief from Denial for Rezoning from R-1A to R3 Classification and Writ of Certiorari, and affirmed the decision of the Jefferson Parish Council ("the Council") that denied his application to have the property at 2916 Destrehan Avenue rezoned. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The property at issue in this case, Lot 26, Square B of the Woodmere Subdivision in Jefferson Parish bearing municipal address 2916 Destrehan Avenue, includes a residential four-plex structure. At the time of the building's construction sometime in 1974, the area was zoned R-3 multi-family residential. Following an area study in 1994, the Council rezoned the area to R-1A, single family residential. At the time of the 1994 rezoning and in the following years, the four-plex remained occupied, and maintained a legal non-conforming use. In 2013, the tenants moved out and the building became vacant. The building remained unoccupied for more than a year and, pursuant to the Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances Sec. 40-702, lost its legal non-conforming use sometime in late 2014. On June 25, 2015, Mr. Ehsani-Landry purchased the property.

Following a December 11, 2015 citation from the Parish Department of Inspection and Code Enforcement for performing renovation work without a permit, Mr. Ehsani-Landry filed an application with the Jefferson Parish Planning Department on December 22, 2015, to change the zoning of the property from R-1A, single family residential, to R-3, multiple family residential. The application was considered at a February 11, 2016 public hearing of the Planning Advisory Board at which time the Planning Department's zoning/land use report was presented. The report included recommendations on the application from various Parish agencies involved in zoning and land use decisions. The Department of Inspection and Code Enforcement opposed Mr. Ehsani-Landry's application because parking on the site was insufficient. The Planning Department found that the proposed rezoning was not consistent with the Parish's Comprehensive Plan and recommended a denial of the application.

*335The Planning Advisory Board also voted to recommend denial of the application.

At a March 16, 2016 regular meeting of the Council, it considered Mr. Ehsani-Landry's application, as well as the recommendations of the Planning Department and the Planning Advisory Board, and voted unanimously to deny the rezoning application.

On April 15, 2016, Mr. Ehsani-Landry filed a petition in the 24th Judicial District Court seeking relief from the Council's denial of his request for rezoning. Following a hearing on the petition, on September 20, 2016, the trial court issued a judgment denying the petition. Mr. Ehsani-Landry now appeals that judgment, raising multiple assignments of error, which we consider in globo in our discussion below.1

DISCUSSION

We first address Mr. Ehsani-Landry's ninth assignment of error: that the trial court erred in not granting a rehearing before the Council because he did not receive mailed, written notice of the Council meeting at which his application for rezoning was considered. Under the Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances Sec. 40-878, which articulates the public hearing and notice requirements for zoning applications, the Parish is not required to mail written notice to rezoning applicants of Council meetings. Those meetings are governed by the Open Meetings Law as codified in La. R.S. 42:19, et seq. Jefferson Parish introduced evidence that the Council properly published and advertised its meetings, including the one where Mr. Ehsani-Landry's application was considered, in compliance with the Opening Meetings Law. Therefore, we find that the trial court properly denied Mr. Ehsani-Landry's request for a rehearing before the Council based on a lack of notice.

In his second assignment of error, Mr. Ehsani-Landry argues that the trial court erred in failing to find the 1994 Planning Department Zoning Study to be "biased and fatally flawed." Jefferson Parish points out that Mr. Ehsani-Landry failed to raise this issue before the trial court, but rather raises it for the first time on appeal.

Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule 1-3 states:

The scope of review in all cases within the appellate and supervisory jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeal shall be as provided by LSA-Const. Art. 5, § 10 (B), and as otherwise provided by law. The Courts of Appeal will review only issues which were submitted to the trial court and which are contained in specifications or assignments of error, unless the interest of justice clearly requires otherwise.

In this instance, Mr. Ehsani-Landry did not raise the issue of bias or fatal flaws in the 1994 Planning Department Zoning Study either in his petition or at the hearing before the trial court. Therefore, this Court will not consider this assignment of error.

We next consider the issues raised in Mr. Ehsani-Landry's first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh assignments of error, which may be summarized as follows: first, he argues that the trial court erred in not extending the one-year period set forth in Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances Sec. 40-702 to allow for the continuation of a nonconforming use following foreclosure *336proceedings. Next, he argues that the trial court erred in failing to find that the 1994 rezoning was an unconstitutional taking that substantially damaged the value of his property. As to these issues, we find that Mr. Ehsani-Landry lacks standing to bring either of these arguments before the Court.

Except as otherwise provided by law, an action can be brought only by a person having a real and actual interest which he asserts. La. C.C.P. art. 681. Addressing the first argument, Mr. Ehsani-Landry contends that by failing to toll the statute of limitations, Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances Sec. 40-702 prejudices third parties, including bona fide lien holders and others with security rights in the properties which lose their nonconforming uses under that statute. It is undisputed that Mr. Ehsani-Landry had no ownership interest or property rights in the property until he purchased it by Warranty Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure from the Bank of New York Mellon on June 25, 2015. Therefore, he had no property rights that could have been damaged when the nonconforming use was lost in December 2014, prior to his purchase. Our courts have long recognized that under the subsequent purchaser rule, a property owner has no right or actual interest in recovering from a third party for damage which was inflicted on the property before his purchase, in the absence of an assignment or subrogation of the rights belonging to the owner of the property when the damage was inflicted. Eagle Pipe & Supply, Inc. v. Amerada Hess Corp. , 10-2267 (La. 10/25/11), 79 So.3d 246, 256-7. Mr. Ehsani-Landry introduced no evidence of an assignment of rights, and therefore the trial court was correct in denying the relief requested in the petition based upon this argument.

Mr.

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240 So. 3d 332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ehsani-landry-v-jefferson-parish-lactapp-2018.