The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)

Land Use Law Report, July, 2004

THE 1ST U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS is not known for its sympathy to developers' claims that the municipal officials' conduct violated their civil rights. The court on more than one occasion has said only the most egregious bad conduct is sufficient to establish a constitutional claim. The line was crossed, however, in a case a panel of the court decided last week (story, page 117).

The municipal government escaped liability by settling with the developer in a related state-court action, but the town official, the director of the department of public works, was ruled not to be part of that settlement, and thus could not take advantage of it in the federal case. It appears that the tipping point for the appeals court was the plentiful evidence that the...