The Scrap Yard, LLC v. City of Cleveland

513 F. App'x 500
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 31, 2013
Docket11-4076
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 513 F. App'x 500 (The Scrap Yard, LLC v. City of Cleveland) 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
The Scrap Yard, LLC v. City of Cleveland, 513 F. App'x 500 (6th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arises from a long-standing dispute between plaintiffs and the City of Cleveland over whether The Scrap Yard, LLC conforms with the zoning code. After lengthy litigation in state court, plaintiffs filed a complaint in federal district court alleging that, through seeking “code compliance,” defendants violated their constitutional rights and committed torts under state law. The district court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

I

We adopt the thorough statements of fact as provided in the Report and Recommendation (R & R) of United States Magistrate Judge Nancy A. Vecchiarelli.

On April 25, 2006 City of Cleveland filed a complaint for injunctive and other relief in Cleveland Municipal Housing Court against Cleveland Scrap and against Ian J. Abrams (“Abrams”), then- *502 owner of the Scrap Yard and owner of the land at 3018 East 55th Street, Cleveland, Ohio upon which the Scrap Yard operated as a tenant (“the site”). The complaint alleged various zoning code violations against Cleveland Scrap and Abrams, including failing to acquire a certificate of occupancy, expanding scrap metal processing unlawfully, failing to obtain a license, storing materials on the site without necessary authorization, piling materials in excess of the legal height, erecting structures on the property without a permit, and fencing portions of the site in violation of ordinance. The city sought a preliminary and permanent injunction against operations at the site.
In June 2008, the parties submitted an agreed judgment entry to the Housing Court, one which provided that Abrams would seek certain variances at the site, would continue to operate his scrap business pending the hearing with the board of zoning appeals, and would keep portions of the site and the nearby road clear of trash and debris while the case was pending at the Housing Court. After a hearing, the board of zoning appeals rejected Abrams’[s] request for variances on July 17, 2006.
On September 11, 2006, the Cleveland Housing Court held a hearing on the city’s motion for a preliminary injunction. On September 14, 2006, the magistrate judge issued his recommendations, and the Housing Court adopted them the same day. Cleveland Scrap alleges that it was not given an opportunity to file objections to the magistrate judge’s report before the court adopted it. The Housing Court entered a judgment and order finding that Cleveland Scrap was illegally conducting operations on the premises and preliminarily enjoined Cleveland Scrap from conducting those operations.
On September 19, 2006, Abrams and Cleveland Scrap appealed the Housing Court’s preliminary injunction. The state appellate court eventually dismissed sua sponte Cleveland Scrap’s appeal of the preliminary injunction as not being a final appealable order. On March 21, 2007, Cleveland filed in the Housing Court a motion for Cleveland Scrap to show cause why it should not be held in contempt for violating the court’s September 14, 2006 order. The Housing Court held a hearing on this motion on April 23, 2007. On April 30, 2007, the court found Cleveland Scrap in contempt of the court’s order, but the court also set forth certain conditions that, if met, would allow Cleveland Scrap to “purge” itself of the contempt citation. Despite attempts by Cleveland Scrap to meet those conditions, the Housing Court found Cleveland Scrap in contempt on May 17, 2007 and imposed sanctions against the company. The sanctions included a fine of $10,000 for each delivery of scrap received. As Cleveland Scrap received about 100 scrap deliveries a day, the sanctions potentially subjected Cleveland Scrap to a fine of about $1,000,000 per day.
Cleveland Scrap filed a timely notice of appeal of the contempt citation on May 23, 2007. That same day, it also filed in the Housing Court a motion to stay the proceedings and set bond pending the stay. The Housing Court imposed bond of $8,100,000. When Cleveland Scrap failed to post bond, the court ordered the bailiffs to secure the gates of the site, thus prohibiting deliveries to Cleveland Scrap and preventing it from conducting further operations.
On September 11, 2008, the state appellate court, in an opinion issued upon reconsideration, reversed the Housing Court. Cleveland v. Abrams (“Cleve *503 land Scrap II”), 2008 WL 4174974 (Ohio App. Sept. 11, 2008). It found that the Housing Court’s preliminary injunction was vague and unclear, thus rendering the contempt citation invalid; that the site was exempt from city ordinances regulating aesthetics and the height of junk; that Cleveland Scrap could not be held in contempt for conducting unauthorized operations on any portion of the property because its permit authorized operations on all portions of the property; and that Cleveland Scrap was not required to obtain a certificate of occupancy. The state appellate court (1) invalidated the injunction and the contempt order and (2) remanded the case to the Housing Court (a) to conduct a hearing to act in compliance with the appellate court’s decision and (b) to further review the legal merits underlying the first preliminary injunction order. While Cleveland Scrap’s appeal was pending in the state appellate court, the Housing Court held a trial on the merits of the request for a permanent injunction on August 12-14, 2008. After hearing the evidence produced at that trial, the Housing Court issued a permanent injunction against Cleveland Scrap’s doing business at the site.
Cleveland Scrap timely appealed issuance of the permanent injunction. On February 25, 2010, the state appellate court reversed the Housing Court and vacated the injunction. The appellate court found that the Housing Court had jurisdiction over the merits of the case while Cleveland Scrap’s appeal of the preliminary injunction was pending in the appellate court. The state appellate court found, nevertheless, that the Housing Court’s permanent injunction conflicted with the law of the case as established by the state appellate court’s ruling in Cleveland Scrap II, filed a month after the Housing Court issued its permanent injunction. See Cleveland v. Abrams (“Cleveland Scrap III”), 2010 WL 664144 (Ohio App. Feb. 25, 2010). The state appellate court also entered judgment in favor of Cleveland Scrap and Abrams on the complaint. On May 31, 2007, while the state actions were proceedings, Cleveland Scrap filed in this court a complaint for injunctive and other relief. Scrap Yard, LLC v. City of Cleveland, et al., Case No. 1:07-cv-1608 (N.D.Ohio 2007).
The complaint asserted seven causes of action: (1) a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988

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Bluebook (online)
513 F. App'x 500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-scrap-yard-llc-v-city-of-cleveland-ca6-2013.