Pryor v. City of Lansing

70 F. App'x 810
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJuly 16, 2003
DocketNo. 01-2745
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 70 F. App'x 810 (Pryor v. City of Lansing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pryor v. City of Lansing, 70 F. App'x 810 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Richard Pryor and Capitol Avenue Homes, Inc.1 appeal the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the City of Lansing (City). We AFFIRM the judgment of the district court for the following reasons.

I.

On August 20, 1993, Pryor purchased two undeveloped platted lots (Lots 40 and 41 in the Frank L. Dodge Subdivision) with frontage on Capitol Avenue, an unimproved public road, and two houses located at 113 and 119 West North Street from the City for $400 at a public auction. The sale of the houses and lots were subject to conditions set forth in Resolution 363, which was passed by the Lansing City Council on June 28, 1993. The conditions, in relevant part, included:

(1) That each structure would be offered for sale along with a vacant building site on North Capitol Avenue being part of Lots 40 and 41, Dodge Park Addition.
(2) That the moving costs will be the sole responsibility of the purchaser.
(3) That the rehabilitation costs are the responsibility of the purchaser and must be completed within one year of the date of the relocation.
(6) That the purchaser is responsible for the extension of all utility service from North Street to the building site, including but not limited to storm and sanitary sewer, water, electrical and gas services.
(7) That the purchaser will be responsible for street improvements, including curb and gutter.

Pryor filed three Letters of Intent (dated October 25, 1993, October 31, 1995, and January 18,1996) requesting permission to bring sanitary sewer service to the houses, which had been relocated to the North Capitol Avenue lots. At an unknown point in time, Pryor also submitted engineering drawings, prepared by Kyes Engineering, for the proposed sanitary sewer extension to the Capitol Avenue properties.2

The January 18, 1996 Letter of Intent was accepted by the City on January 31, 1996, subject to standard conditions preprinted on the Letter of Intent application. In correspondence also dated January 31, 1996, a city engineering assistant advised Kyes Engineering of the specific plan revisions necessary for the construction to be approved. Kyes Engineering submitted its revised sanitary sewer extension design with correspondence dated November 25, 1996. Pryor did not pursue the matter any further.

[812]*812On June 1, 1995, Pryor petitioned to vacate the North Capitol Avenue right-of-way. On October 3, 1995, the Lansing Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of the vacation to the City Council. On November 7, 1995, the City Council’s Committee on Physical Development tabled the request to permit study by an absent member. Pryor did not pursue the matter any further.

Pryor then filed suit in state court alleging (1) false advertisement and misrepresentation under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, M.C.L. § § 455.901 et seq. (2) fraud, and (3) breach of contract. The named defendants were two city engineers, Robert Clegg and Robert Rose, Mayor David Hollister, and the City of Lansing. On December 11, 1996, the county circuit court granted summary disposition in favor of the City on all claims. On May 18, 1999, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed.

While Pryor’s state court appeal was pending, he filed suit in federal court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming (1) that City Engineers Robert Clegg and Robert Rose’s failure to process his sanitary sewer applications denied him his property without procedural due process, and (2) that their conduct violated Pryor’s right to free speech because it was in retaliation for Pryor’s criticism of them. On June 11, 1999, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, holding that Pryor failed to identify what constitutional procedural due process rights he had been deprived him of, and that Pryor failed to demonstrate that the defendants had taken any adverse actions against him or that there was any basis to infer retaliation.

On April 28, 2000, counsel for Capitol Avenue Homes, Inc., sent a letter to the current City Engineer asking what it needed to do to comply with Resolution 363. The City responded by letter dated June 14, 2000, answering each question based on the requirements of Resolution 363 and the applicable city ordinances and design standards.

Plaintiffs filed the instant action on August 27, 2001 alleging (1) that the City’s demand that Plaintiffs “acquire additional property, build[ ] the City’s infrastructure on it, and giv[e] it to the City for free” constitutes a taking of private property without compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment, and (2) that the City’s demand that Plaintiffs “build the City’s infrastructure as a precondition to providing City services” is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the City is treating Plaintiffs differently than similarly situated developers. On November 29, 2001, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the City. Plaintiffs filed a timely appeal.

II. Discussion

The district court’s summary judgment decision is reviewed de novo. Plaintiffs contend that the district court erred when it granted summary judgment in favor of the City, finding that Plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the prior federal and state litigation. This Court applies its own rules of claim and issue preclusion when determining the preclusive effect of a prior federal court action. EEOC v. Frank’s Nursery & Crafts, Inc., 177 F.3d 448, 462-63 (6th Cir.1999). We apply a state’s rules regarding claim and issue preclusion when determining the preclusive effect of a prior state court action. Spence v. TRW, Inc., 92 F.3d 380, 382 (6th Cir.1996). As an initial matter, we note that in their arguments regarding the applicability of preclusion rules to this action, the parties do not dispute that the previous federal and state actions were decided on the merits or that the actions involved the same parties. [813]*813On the basis of the parties agreement as to these matters, we consider the previous litigation decided on the merits and the parties the same for the purpose of this case.

A.

Plaintiffs’ Takings and Equal Protection claims are precluded by the previous federal court action. In the Sixth Circuit, claim preclusion applies to a subsequent federal court action if (1) the prior federal action was decided on the merits; (2) the subject matter contested in the second federal case was or could have been resolved in the first federal case; and (3) both actions involved the same parties or their privies. Frank’s Nursery, 177 F.3d at 462. With respect to element two, the claims litigated in the first federal action and the claims presented here arise out of the same transaction: specifically the sale contract executed by Pryor and the City regarding the purchase and improvement of the houses and the North Capitol Avenue lots.

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Related

Reid v. Thetford Township
377 F. Supp. 2d 621 (E.D. Michigan, 2005)
Pryor v. City of Lansing, Michigan
541 U.S. 938 (Supreme Court, 2004)

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70 F. App'x 810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pryor-v-city-of-lansing-ca6-2003.