MADALONI v. City of Mobile

37 So. 3d 739, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 251, 2009 WL 3415236
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedOctober 23, 2009
Docket1071500
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 37 So. 3d 739 (MADALONI v. City of Mobile) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MADALONI v. City of Mobile, 37 So. 3d 739, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 251, 2009 WL 3415236 (Ala. 2009).

Opinions

SMITH, Justice.

This action concerns a variety of constitutional and statutory challenges to Act No. 2004-882, Ala. Acts 2004, now codified at §§ 11-54B — 40 through -58, Ala.Code 1975, and City of Mobile Ordinance no. 50-39-2005 by plaintiffs Nicholas Madaloni and M.A. Publishing Syndicate, a corporation. Act No. 2004-382 authorized the City of Mobile to enact Ordinance no. 50-39-2005, which created a self-help business-improvement district (“BID”) in downtown Mobile. M.A. Publishing Syndicate is an Alabama corporation located in downtown Mobile within the BID, and Ma-daloni is the sole owner of M.A. Publishing Syndicate.

Madaloni and M.A. Publishing Syndicate (“the plaintiffs”) now appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of the defendants, the Downtown Mobile District Management Corporation, the City of Mobile, and the State of Alabama (collectively “the defendants”). We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

By definition “[A]ct [No. 2004-382] is intended as the exclusive procedure by which a Class 2 municipality may create and maintain a self-help business improvement district.” Act No. 2004-382, § 3. A “self-help business improvement district” is defined in Act No. 2004-382 as “[a]n area in which a special assessment may be levied on the owners of real property located within the geographical area of the district for the purposes of providing supplemental services within the district and promoting the economic and general welfare of the district.” 1 Act No. 2004-382, [742]*742§ 2. Act No. 2004-382 was patterned after Act No. 94-677, Ala. Acts 1975, codified at §§ 11-54B-1 through -39, Ala.Code 1975, which establishes the exclusive procedure for Class 1 municipalities to adopt ordinances to create BIDs.

Before the introduction of Senate Bill 146, which became Act No. 2004-382, in the Alabama Legislature, a synopsis of the proposed act was published in the Mobile Press-Register once a week for four consecutive weeks in January 2004.2 Senate Bill 146 ultimately passed both houses of the legislature, and it was approved and signed by the governor on May 3, 2004.

After Act No. 2004-382 became effective, individuals who owned property located in downtown Mobile requested that the city council for the City of Mobile adopt an ordinance to create a BID. Pursuant to the procedures set out in Act No. 2004-382, the individuals presented the city council with a “Mobile Downtown Business Improvement Plan,” which states that they desired the creation of a BID in downtown Mobile to improve safety, maintenance, parking, and retail/office recruitment and retention in the area. The city council subsequently held a hearing on a proposed ordinance to create the BID in downtown Mobile. One week after the hearing, on May 10, 2005, the city council enacted Ordinance no. 50-39-2005. The ordinance designated the geographic area of the BID, imposed a special assessment upon owners of real property within the district to finance the costs of the supplemental services associated with a BID, and designated the Downtown Mobile District Management Corporation as the entity that would provide supplemental services within the district.

The plaintiffs brought this action seeking a judgment declaring Act No. 2004-382 and Ordinance no. 50-39-2005 void. Specifically, the plaintiffs asserted that the Act and the Ordinance violate Art. IV, §§ 45, 89, 104, 105, and 106, and Art. XII, § 223, of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 (Off.Recomp.). The plaintiffs further asserted that Act No. 2004-382 and Ordinance no. 50-39-2005 conflict with §§ 39-2-2 and 41-16-50, Ala.Code 1975, and various sections of the Municipal Public Improvements Act, § 11-48-1 et seq., Ala. Code 1975, and the Alabama Improvement District Act, § 11-99A-1 et seq., Ala.Code 1975.

In the trial court, the parties filed cross-motions for a summary judgment. The trial court granted each of the defendants’ summary-judgment motions without an opinion. The plaintiffs then moved “pursuant to Rule 54(b)[, Ala. R. Civ. P.,] for the court to rule on the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and to enter a final order in this cause.” Thereafter, the trial court denied the plaintiffs’ summary-judgment motion in an order that stated “all issues in this case have been adjudicated.” The plaintiffs appeal.

Standard of Review

“ ‘This court reviews de novo a trial court’s interpretation of a statute, because only a question of law is presented.’ Scott Bridge Co. v. Wright, 883 So.2d 1221, 1223 (Ala.2003). Where, as here, the facts of a case are essentially undisputed, this Court must determine whether the trial court misapplied the law to the undisputed facts, applying a de novo standard of review.”

Continental Nat’l Indem. Co. v. Fields, 926 So.2d 1033, 1034-35 (Ala.2005). Likewise,

[743]*743“ ‘[o]ur review of constitutional challenges to legislative enactments is de novo.’ Richards v. Izzi, 819 So.2d 25, 29 n. 3 (Ala.2001). Additionally, acts of the legislature are presumed constitutional. State v. Alabama Mun. Ins. Corp., 730 So.2d 107, 110 (Ala.1998). See also Dobbs v. Shelby County Econ. & Indus. Dev. Auth., 749 So.2d 425, 428 (Ala.1999) (‘In reviewing the constitutionality of a legislative act, this Court will sustain the act “ ‘unless it is clear beyond reasonable doubt that it is violative of the fundamental law.’ ” White v. Reynolds Metals Co., 558 So.2d 373, 383 (Ala.1989) (quoting Alabama State Fed’n of Labor v. McAdory, 246 Ala. 1, 9, 18 So.2d 810, 815 (1944)).’). We approach the question of the constitutionality of a legislative act ‘ “ “with every presumption and intendment in favor of its validity, and seek to sustain rather than strike down the enactment of a coordinate branch of the government.’ ” ’ Monroe v. Harco, Inc., 762 So.2d 828, 831 (Ala.2000) (quoting Moore v. Mobile Infirmary Ass’n, 592 So.2d 156, 159 (Ala.1991), quoting in turn McAdory, 246 Ala. at 9, 18 So.2d at 815).
“Moreover, in order to overcome the presumption of constitutionality, ... the party asserting the unconstitutionality of the Act ... bears the burden ‘to show that [the Act] is not constitutional’ Board of Trustees of Employees’ Retirement Sys. of Montgomery v. Talley, 291 Ala. 307, 310, 280 So.2d 553, 556 (1973). See also Thorn v. Jefferson County, 375 So.2d 780, 787 (Ala.1979)(‘It is the law, of course, that a party attacking a statute has the burden of overcoming the presumption of constitutionality....’).”

State ex rel. King v. Morton, 955 So.2d 1012, 1017 (Ala.2006).

Discussion

A principal issue in this case is whether Act No. 2004-382 is a “general law” or a “local law.” The distinction between a general law and a local law is significant because the Alabama Constitution places certain limitations on the power of the legislature to enact local laws. See, e.g., Art. IV, §§ 104, 105, and 106, Ala. Const. 1901 (Off.Recomp.).

Article IV, § 110, of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 (Off.Recomp.), as amended by Amendments No. 375 and No. 397, defines the terms “general law” and “local law” as follows:

“A general law is a law which in its terms and effect applies either to the whole state, or to one or more municipalities of the state less than the whole in a class.

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MADALONI v. City of Mobile
37 So. 3d 739 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2009)

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37 So. 3d 739, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 251, 2009 WL 3415236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/madaloni-v-city-of-mobile-ala-2009.