Steffensen-WC, LLC v. Volunteers of America of Utah, Inc.

2016 UT App 49, 369 P.3d 483, 808 Utah Adv. Rep. 18, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 50, 2016 WL 932933
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedMarch 10, 2016
Docket20140855-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2016 UT App 49 (Steffensen-WC, LLC v. Volunteers of America of Utah, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steffensen-WC, LLC v. Volunteers of America of Utah, Inc., 2016 UT App 49, 369 P.3d 483, 808 Utah Adv. Rep. 18, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 50, 2016 WL 932933 (Utah Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Memorandum Decision

CHRISTIANSEN, Judge:

€ 1 Steffensen-WC, LLC appeals from the district court's grant of a motion to dismiss. We affirm.

2 Volunteers of America of Utah, Inc. is a nonprofit organization, Katherine Bray is its president, and Mark S. Manazer is its chief operating officer. We refer to the organization, Bray, and Manazer collectively as VOA. We refer to Salt Lake City Corporation, the Salt Lake City Planning Commission, and the Salt Lake City Planning Director collectively as SLC.

« 3 Steffensen-WC owns a parcel of land in Salt Lake City, The building on that land was formerly industrial but has been converted to apartments,. VOA purchased an adjacent parcel of land, with the intention of constructing a homeless shelter for young adults. To that end, VOA applied to SLC for the permits necessary to build and operate the shelter, Thereafter, Steffensen-WC brought suit against VOA and SLC, noting that SLC appeared "to be on the verge of approving the conditional use application" and asserting that "such approval can not meet the requirements of the applicable ... ordinances and will create a substantial private nuisance." VOA and SLC both filed motions to dismiss the suit.

14 VOA argued in its motion to dismiss that dismissal was appropriate because the shelter had not yet been approved, let alone built, and "speculative allegation[s] of what may or may not occur in the future" could not sustain a claim for private nuisance. 2 Steffensen-WC responded to the motion by arguing that the complaint "appropriately invoke[d] the law of Anticipatory Nuisance" and that VOA had "inexplicably ignore[d] the fact that [Steffensen-WC] is pursuing an anticipatory nuisance claim." VOA filed a reply, asserting that anticipatory nuisance is not a cause of action recognized by Utah courts and that even if it were recognized in Utah, Steffensen-WC "nevertheless failed to plead the necessary elements of such a claim." VOA then filed a request to submit its motion to dismiss for decision. Steffen-sen-WC objected, claiming that the anticipatory-nuisance arguments in VOA's reply constituted "essentially an entirely new motion to dismiss." Steffensen-WC also requested an enlargement of time to file a motion to strike VOA's reply.

5 The district court determined that the anticipatory-nuisance arguments in VOA's *485 reply were appropriate rebuttal material under rule 7 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. The district court also noted that it was unpersuaded by Steffensen-WC's argument that the complaint had " 'invoked the law of Anticipatory Nuisanee' " in light of the fact that Steffensen-WC's complaint "expressly invokes the claim of 'private nuisance'" and "even lays out the elements of a 'private nuisance.'" The district court concluded that the complaint attempted to allege private nuisance but failed to allege the specific elements required of a private-nuisance claim. As a result, the district court denied Steffensen-WC's objection and motion for an enlargement of time and granted VOA's motion to dismiss the claims against VOA.

T6 SLC's motion to dismiss argued that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the case because the permitting process was still underway and Steffensen-WC had therefore failed to exhaust its administrative remedies, The district court agreed; consequently, the district court granted SLC's motion to dismiss the claims against SLC.

T7 Steffensen-WC appealed the district court's resolution of both motions to dismiss. In an order of partial summary affirmance, this court agreed that Steffensen-WC had not exhausted the available administrative remedies for its claims against SLC and affirmed the dismissal of those claims. We now address the dismissal of Steffensen-WC's claims against VOA,

I. The Court of Appeals Has Jurisdiction Because the Requirement to Exhaust Administrative Remedies Does Not Apply to Claims Against VOA.

18 We begin by addressmg VOA’ contention that the Utah Court of Appeals lacks jurisdiction to consider this appeal, VOA argues that we lack jurisdiction because Steffensen-WC failed to exhaust its administrative remedies pursuant to Utah Code see: tion 10-9a-801. " '[Blecause it is a threshold issue, we address jurisdictional questions before resolving other claims." " Fisher v. Fisher, 2008 UT App 91, ¶ 15, 67 P.3d 1055 (quoting Housing Auth. v. Snyder, 2002 UT 28, ¶ 11, 44 P.3d 724).

. 19. "No person may challenge in district court a municipality's land use decision made under this chapter ... until that person has exhausted the person's administrative remedies. ..." Utah Code Anp. § 10-92-801(1) (LexisNexis 2012), "Where the legislature has imposed a specific exhaustion requirement ... we will enforce it strictly." Patterson v. American Fork City, 2008 UT 7, ¶ 17, 67 P.3d 466.

T10 By referring explicitly to municipalities, the plain language of section 10-9a-801(1) limits the requirement to exhaust administrative remedies to land use challenges against municipalities. Steffensen-WC alleged claims against both SLC and VOA, of which only the VOA claims are now before us.. VOA is not-for-profit entity, not a municipality,. Because the statute's effect is limited to land-use challenges against municipalities, it does not apply to the claims against VOA.

{11 We conclude that the district court had jurisdiction over Steffensen-WC's claims against VOA because there was no applicable statutory exhaustion requirement. Consequently, we have jurisdiction to consider appeals taken from the district court's resolution of the VOA claims.

II. The District Court Did Not Err or . Abuse Its Discretion by Overruling Stef-fensen-WC's Objection and Denying Steffensen-WC's Motion Because VOA's Reply Memorandum Constituted Appropriate Rebuttal to Matters Raised by Steffensen-WC's Opposition.

12 Steffensen-WC contends that the district court improperly overruled its objection to VOA's request to submit the motion to dismiss for decision and improperly denied Steffensen-WC's motlon seeking enlargement of time to file a mot1on to strike VOA's reply memorandum. 'A district court judge enjoys " 'broad discretion in determining how a [cage] shall proceed in his or her courtroom.'" Pratt v. Nelson, 2005 UT App 541, ¶ 12, 127 P.3d 1256 (alteration in original) (quoting University of Utah v. Industrial Comm'n, 736 P.2d 630, 633 (Utah 1987)). We therefore review Steffensen-WC's claim of error for an abuse of discretion. See *486 Stoddard v. Smith, 2001 UT 47, ¶ 22, 27 P.3d 546 (applying an abuse-of-discretion standard to a district court's denial of a motion for additional time to file a motion for substitution); Dahl v. Harrison, 2011 UT App 389, ¶ 11, 265 P.3d 139 (applying an abuse-of-discretion standard to the district court's denial of a motion seekmg additional time for discovery). **

113 VOA filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on' the basis that the complaint failed to state a private-nuisance claim. «See Utah R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Steffensen-WC opposed the motion, arguing that the complaint alleged a claim for anticipatory nuisance rather than private nuisance. VOA argued in its reply memorandum that Utah does not recognize anticipatory nuisance as a cause of action.

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Bluebook (online)
2016 UT App 49, 369 P.3d 483, 808 Utah Adv. Rep. 18, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 50, 2016 WL 932933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steffensen-wc-llc-v-volunteers-of-america-of-utah-inc-utahctapp-2016.