Ethan Dean v. City of Winona, 2015 Minn. LEXIS 430

City of Winona enacted a "30-percent rule" (Winona, Minn., Code § 33A.03) limiting rental licenses so no more than 30% of lots on a block in certain residential zones may be licensed as rentals; grandfathering applies to preexisting licensed properties.
Appellants (Dean, Richard, Dzierzbickis) were denied standard rental licenses and sued in 2011 seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging equal protection, procedural and substantive due process violations, and that the ordinance exceeded municipal zoning authority under Minn. Stat. § 462.357.
District court granted summary judgment to the City; the court of appeals affirmed; appellants sought review in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
After the court of appeals decision, the Dzierzbickis sold their home and became the only appellant still seeking a license; by the time the Supreme Court granted review the appellants no longer had live equitable claims.
The City moved to dismiss the appeal as moot; appellants nevertheless argued (for the first time at the Supreme Court level) that a nominal-damages claim under the Minnesota Constitution Remedies Clause preserved a live controversy.
The Supreme Court concluded appellants lacked a continuing personal interest, found no applicable mootness exceptions, rejected the late-asserted Remedies Clause cause of action, and dismissed the appeal as moot.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the appeal is justiciable or moot	Appellants: their constitutional and statutory claims remain viable; nominal damages keep controversy alive	City: appellants no longer have a live interest; declaratory/injunctive relief moot; appeal should be dismissed	Moot: no live controversy; dismissal granted
Applicability of "capable of repetition, yet evading review" exception	Appellants: ordinance enforcement likely to recur and evade review	City: enforcement is ongoing and not inherently short-lived; exception inapplicable	Exception not met; does not evade review
Applicability of "functional justiciability"/statewide significance exception	Appellants: issue affects rental regulation generally	City: dispute is limited to one municipality and lacks urgent statewide impact	Exception not met; no statewide urgency or need for immediate decision
Whether nominal damages under the Remedies Clause preserve jurisdiction when pleaded late	Appellants: Remedies Clause creates an implied private cause of action for nominal damages, keeping the case live	City: theory was not pleaded below; cannot be asserted first on appeal; claim fails as untimely	Court: plaintiffs raised the Remedies Clause theory too late and did not adequately plead it; Court declined to reach merits and refused to recognize the new cause of action here

McCaughtry v. City of Red Wing, 808 N.W.2d 331 (Minn. 2011) (justiciability is reviewed de novo)
In re Schmidt, 443 N.W.2d 824 (Minn. 1989) (mootness and when issues are nonjusticiable)
Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000) (standing/mootness as a temporal component of standing)
In re Minnegasco, 565 N.W.2d 706 (Minn. 1997) (dismissal appropriate when effective relief is impossible)
Kahn v. Griffin, 701 N.W.2d 815 (Minn. 2005) (test for "capable of repetition, yet evading review")
State v. Rud, 359 N.W.2d 573 (Minn. 1984) (‘‘functionally justiciable’’ exception; narrow application for statewide importance)
Jasper v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 642 N.W.2d 435 (Minn. 2002) (example of case reaching merits as functionally justiciable due to statewide impact)
Brayton v. Pawlenty, 781 N.W.2d 357 (Minn. 2010) (court avoids deciding constitutional questions unless required)