PBT Real Estate, LLC v. Town of Palm Beach, 19-11264

The Town of Palm Beach undertook a utility-undergrounding project funded by special assessments allocated based on expected benefits (reliability, safety, aesthetics).
The Town exempted properties that it had previously assessed when it completed neighborhood-specific undergrounding, but did not exempt properties that had privately undergrounded their utilities (including PBT’s property at Palm Beach Towers).
PBT Real Estate sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (class-of-one equal protection and substantive due process) and raised related Florida-law claims; PBT filed three amended complaints.
The district court dismissed PBT’s complaints (first two by dismissal; third by summary judgment) for failing to show similarly situated comparators and for not challenging the assessment as a whole; the Eleventh Circuit affirmed on the merits on prior appeal.
The Town moved for attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988; the district court awarded fees as PBT’s § 1983 claims were deemed frivolous, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the fee award, holding no abuse of discretion.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether PBT’s § 1983 claims were frivolous such that the Town is entitled to attorney’s fees under § 1988	PBT argued its claims were colorable and not frivolous; court should not sanction repeated amendments	Town argued PBT never established a prima facie case, repeatedly refiled the same deficient claims, and thus litigation became frivolous	Court held the claims were frivolous by the third amended complaint and affirmed fee award
Whether the district court abused its discretion in awarding fees	PBT argued the court should have given its amended pleadings closer review and that dismissal-with-leave showed claims weren’t impossible	Town argued the Sullivan/Beach Blitz factors supported fees given lack of support and repeated filings after warning	Court found no abuse of discretion under the Sullivan factors despite some indicia that claims warranted attention; affirmed

PBT Real Estate, LLC v. Town of Palm Beach, 988 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2021) (prior appeal rejecting PBT’s § 1983 equal protection and substantive-due-process claims)
Sullivan v. School Bd. of Pinellas Cnty., 773 F.2d 1182 (11th Cir. 1985) (outlining factors for awarding fees under § 1988)
Beach Blitz Co. v. City of Miami Beach, 13 F.4th 1289 (11th Cir. 2021) (clarifying importance of whether claim warranted close judicial attention)
Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412 (1978) (fees may be awarded if plaintiff continued litigation after claims became frivolous)
Busby v. City of Orlando, 931 F.2d 764 (11th Cir. 1991) (discussing standards for assessing frivolous constitutional claims)
United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160 (11th Cir. 2010) (abuse-of-discretion standard and when a court misweights factors)
United States v. Frazier, 387 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir. 2004) (en banc) (appellate deference where the district court’s discretionary judgment is plausible)