B & B Enterprises of Wilson County, LLC v. City of LebanonB & B Enterprises of Wilson County, LLC v. City of Lebanon
OPINION 1
delivered the opinion of the Court,
This appeal involves the application of the one-year statute of limitations in
I.
In 1998, John Hill began to develop the Chaparral Subdivision on property located in the City of Lebanon. Even though the project complied with all applicable land use requirements, the City of Lebanon Planning Commission (“Planning Commission”) declined to approve the subdivision because of opposition by neighboring property owners. Mr. Hill sought judicial review of the Planning Commission’s decision in the Chancery Court for Wilson County. The Chancery Court found that the Planning Commission had acted arbitrarily and capriciously.
Following his victory in the trial court, Mr. Hill redesigned the project in an effort to address the neighbors’ objections. He purchased additional property and developed a plan to construct 106 homes on approximately 35 acres in three phases. Phase One involved thе construction of homes on 34 lots on approximately 10 acres. The Planning Commission’s staff recommended approval of the subdivision plan and the plan for Phase One, conditioned on several minor technical corrections. On July 24, 2001, the Planning Commission approved the revised preliminary plat for the entire subdivision and the final plat for Phase One, subject to the staff recommendations.
Mr. Hill sold the development to B & B Enterprises of Wilson County, LLC and Hal Bone. 2 In 2002, B & B Enterprises submitted the final plats for Phases Two аnd Three of the subdivision to the Planning Commission for approval. The Planning Commission’s staff recommended approval of these plats “with corrections.” However, neighboring property owners continued to object to the development because they believed that it was not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, that it would increase traffic, and that it would lower their property values. On January 22, 2002, the Planning Commission declined to aрprove the plans for Phases Two and Three. B & B Enterprises brought the project back to the Planning Commission on February 26, 2002, and the Planning Commission again declined to approve the plans for Phases Two and Three despite its staffs conclusion that these plats met all applicable requirements.
B & B Enterprises, like Mr. Hill, sought judicial review of the Planning Commission’s decision in the Chancery Court for Wilson County. The Chancery Court held that the Planning Commission had acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it declined to approve the plans for Phases Two and Three. The Planning Commission appealed to the Court of Appeals. In its December 16, 2004 opinion, the Court of Appeals held that “because the planning commission has no legal or factual basis for declining to approve Phases Two and Three, it has no option other than to follow the law and approve these plats.” B
& B Enters. of Wilson Cnty. v. City of Lebanon,
Finding itself back in state court, the City of Lebanon defendants moved for a summary judgment on the ground that thе condemnation claim was barred by the one year statute of limitations contained in
On Oсtober 24, 2007, the Circuit Court denied the City of Lebanon defendants’ motion for summary judgment, holding that “the appropriate triggering event to commence the statute of limitations is the [December 16, 2004] filing ... of the Court of Appeals decision.” The City of Lebanon defendants sought, and were granted, permission to seek interlocutory appeal. The Court of Appeals reversed the Circuit Court after concluding that “the statute of limitations was triggered, at the latest, when the plaintiffs’ writ of certiorari action was filed, which was April 12, 2002.”
B & B Enters. of Wilson Cnty., LLC v. City of Lebanon,
No. M2008-00572-COA-R9-CV,
II.
The standards by which appellate courts customarily review decisions to grant or deny motions for summary judgment are well-known by the bench and bar. Summary judgments are appropriate in virtually every civil case that can be resolved on the basis of legal issues alone.
Green v. Green,
Orders granting a summary judgment are not entitled to a presumption of cоrrectness on appeal.
Bailey v. Blount Cnty. Bd. of Educ.,
III.
Before addressing the substantive question regarding the application of the statute of limitations, we turn our attention to B & B Enterprises’s cause of action. B & B Enterprises is seeking to recover monetary damages based on the allegedly illegal manner in which the City of Lebanon defendants administered the city’s land use planning ordinances and rules. In common parlance, B & B Enterprises is asserting a “regulatory taking” claim. 5 More specifically, B & B Enterprises is asserting a temporary regulatory taking claim because it is not alleging that the City of Lebanon defendants permanently deprived it of all beneficial use of its property.
Temporary regulatory takings claims based on the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution are governed by the principles set out in
Penn Cent. Transp. Co. v. City of New York,
IV.
The applicable statute of limitations for a temporary regulatory taking claim would be the statute of limitations found in
The owners of land shall, in such cases, commence proceedings within twelve (12) months after the land has been actually taken possession of, and the work of the proposed internal improvement begun; saving, however, to unknown owners and nonresidents, twelve (12) months after actual knowledge of such occupation, not exceeding three (3) years, and saving to persons under the disabilities of infancy and unsoundness of mind, twelve (12) months after such disability is removed, but not exceeding ten (10) years.
Even though this statute is couched in terms of physical takings, it applies equally to all takings c’aims.
STS/BAC Joint Venture v. City of Mt. Juliet,
No. M2003-00171-COA-R3-CV,
For the purposes of
Courts confronted with a defense predicated on the running of the statute of limitations in
B & B Enterprises does not dispute that it had actual notice of the Planning Commission’s February 26, 2002 refusal to approve its plans for Phases Two and Three.
We disagree that B & B Enterprises’s decision to pursue judicial review of the Planning Commission’s February 26, 2002 decision did not prevent the Planning Commission’s actiоn from being “permanent” or “final” for the purpose of
We agree with the United States Supreme Court. The Planning Commission’s action on February 26, 2002, put B
&
B Enterprises on notice that its reasonable investment-backed expectations for the use of its property had been frustrated. Regardless of the eventual outcome of the judicial proceedings, the Planning Commission began interfering with B & B Enterprises’s economically beneficial use of its property by no later than February 26, 2002. While the duration of the judicial proceedings might later be relevant to determining the length of time that B & B Enterprises was denied the use of its property, it is not relevant to determining when B & B Enterprises was put on notice that a taking had occurred. Therefore, we hold that
V.
B & B Enterprises argues that even if the statute of limitations in
A.
The courts fashioned the jurisрrudential “exhaustion of administrative remedies” doctrine in deference to administrative agencies. This doctrine, which prompts courts to stay their hand until an administrative proceeding is completed,
Bailey v. Blount Cnty. Bd. of Educ.,
The exhaustiоn doctrine has no application to this case because the actions of the administrative agency — here the Planning Commission — were completed on February 26, 2002. No further deference to the agency was required after that time. The administrative proceedings ended on February 26, 2002, and the judicial proceedings began when B & B Enterprises filed its petition for common-law writ of certiorari. The judicial proceedings were not simply a continuation of the administrative proceedings. Their purpose was to determine, based on the completed record of the proceedings before the Planning Commission, whether the Planning Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction or had acted illegally, fraudulently, or arbitrarily.
Hoover Motor Exp. Co. v. R.R. & Pub. Utils. Comm’n,
The doctrine favoring the “exhaustion of administrative remedies” prior to the commencement of judicial proceedings is intended to promote the completion of administrative proceedings. It has no application, and the interests it promotes are not furthered, but employing it as a tolling device to prevent the application of a statute of limitations. Because the Planning Commission’s proceedings were plainly completed on February 26, 2002, the doctrine cannot save B & B Enterprises from the running of the statute of limitations in this case.
B.
B
&
B Enterprises next argues that thе statute of limitations in
Doctrines such as ripeness assist the courts in determining whether a particular case presents a justiciable legal issue.
Norma Faye Pyles Lynch Family Purpose LLC v. Putnam Cnty.,
Determining whether a particular dispute is ripe entails a two-part inquiry. The first question is whether the issues in the case are ones appropriate for judicial resolution. The second question is whether the court’s refusal to act will cause hardship to the parties.
Abbott Labs. v. Gardner,
This dispute became ripe on February 26, 2002. On that date, B & B Enterprises knew that the Planning Commission had interfered with its reasonable investment-backed expected use of Phases Two and Three of the Chaparral Subdivision. It also knew that it started to incur economic damages. Thus, by February 26, 2002, B & B Enterprises was aware of (1) the occurrence of an allegedly wrongful аct, (2) the identity of the actor who had committed the allegedly wrongful act, and (3) the fact that it had been damaged by the alleged wrongful act.
In other contexts, it has become axiomatic that a statute of limitations is not tolled until the injured party knows the full extent of its damages.
Shadrick v. Coker,
C.
Finally, B & B Enterprises argues that equitable estoрpel should toll the statute of limitations. Equitable estoppel only applies where “the opposing party ha[s] engaged in misconduct.”
Norton v. Everhart,
(1) Conduct which amounts to a false representation or concealment of material facts, or, at least, which is calculated to convey the impression that the facts are otherwise than, and inconsistent with, those which the party subsequently attempts to assert; (2) Intention, or at least expectation that such conduct shall be acted upon by the other party; [and] (3) Knowledge, actual or constructive[,] of the real facts.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. v. Epperson,
The fact that the Planning Commission may have acted arbitrarily or capriciously when it declined to approve the рlats for
VI.
In summary, we find that B
&
B Enterprises’s claim against the City of Lebanon defendants accrued on February 26, 2002. We also find that, in the absence of the appropriate application of any tolling doctrines, the statute of limitations applicable to B & B Enterprises’s takings claim, TenmCode Ann.
Notes
. Some of die facts contained in this opinion have been gleaned from prior proceedings in Üiis case and related cases.
See B & B Enters. of Wilson Cnty., LLC, v. City of Lebanon,
No. M2003-00267-COA-R3-CV,
. These parties will be referred to collectively as “B & B Enterprises.”
. These defendants will be referred to collectively as "City of Lebanon defendants.”
. This appeal does not involve the later proceedings in the Chancery Court. After the Chancery Court permitted B & B Enterprises to amend its petition, the Court of Appeals granted an interlocutory appeal, vacated the trial court's order, and remanded the case with instructions to deny the motion to amend because claims for judicial review of decisions of government bodies cannot be combined with claims for damages.
B & B Enters. of Wilson Cnty., LLC
v.
City of Lebanon,
. A regulatory taking results when a governmental regulation places such a burdensome restriction on a landowner's use of its property that the government has for all intents and purposes “taken” the property. In 1922, a near unanimous United States Supreme Court noted that a regulation that goes "too far” is a taking of property, presumably as much as a physical taking or invasion of property is a taking.
Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon,
. Inverse condemnation claims are likewise limited to physical takings. The chief difference between a condemnation claim and an inverse condemnation claim is that the former is initiated by a government entity while the latter is initiated by the landowner.
See