Amicus Briefs
Potter v. Village of Ocean Beach
CASE SUMMARY
NCLA asks the Supreme Court to hear this case and determine when the statute of limitations begins to run for Americans who have to sue local governments for denying them due process of law in connection with violating their property rights. The Justices should rule that the statutory time limit for filing claims of due process violations in land use disputes begins to run only once the government denies due process of law to contest property rights matters, rather than when the plaintiff is first deprived of the property interest. The Supreme Court can resolve the entrenched disagreement between several circuit courts of appeals on this issue, so local governments can no longer use administrative delay tactics to freely interfere with Americans’ property rights.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit wrongly found that the three-year window for filing due process claims begins to run when government “inflicts an actual, concrete injury,” deciding that this had occurred in Philip Potter’s case when the Village of Ocean Beach New York revoked his occupancy certificate (more than three years before he filed). The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Circuits all agree that the filing window only begins after the government declines to provide someone with due process of law in cases like this. The Supreme Court should agree with those circuits and decide that Potter’s lawsuit was timely filed, setting a standard for all similar disputes nationwide.