A state appeals court has ruled that a land-use lawsuit against the city of Shelton, Mayor Mark Lauretti and three city officials can continue on at Superior Court in Milford.
The appeals court, in a Nov. 15, 2011 decision, upheld the lower court’s 2010 ruling that kept Lauretti as a defendant in the suit.
The lawsuit — Wiacek Farms, LLC v. the City of Shelton — looks to recoup profits lost after the city took about 40 acres off Meadow Street through eminent domain in 2004.
Background
In 2004, Shelton started the process to take land near Shelton High School through eminent domain in order to keep it as open space.
The owner of the property, Wiacek Farms, LLC, had already received approvals to subdivide and develop the land for 24 single-family homes.
In 2005, Wiacek Farms tried to get an injunction to stop the city takeover, but a judge ruled in favor of the city. The land is now city-owned open space.
In 2006, Wiacek Farms filed a lawsuit against the city, Lauretti, Board of Aldermen president John Anglace, the city zoning enforcement officer and the city engineer.
The lawsuit claimed that Lauretti had wrongfully prevented Wiacek Farms from developing the property, costing the family some $2.2 million.
The lawsuit alleges the reason was because Lauretti owned land on River Road where he also wanted to build homes. That River Road land was never developed, Lauretti said Wednesday.
Wiacek Farms wants to bring the case to trial, so it can air its complaints about Lauretti’s actions before the eminent domain proceedings. Specifically, Wiacek Farms claims that Lauretti stopped the city from issuing permits to Wiacek, so it could stall the development while the city started the eminent domain process.
Lauretti’s attorney, Dana Lee, argued in court filings that the case could set a dangerous precedent.
“This case implicates a municipality’s right to condemn property, which should not be subject to a costly collateral attack for damages when there is no actual evidence of wrongdoing,” Lee wrote in January 2010 filing.
Legal Wrangling
The case has been ongoing at Superior Court in Milford, with both sides filing motions and arguments over the past five years.
Lauretti’s attorney, Dana Lee of Gordon, Muir and Foley LLP. Lee was unable to be reached for comment Wednesday.
The city and the three city officials are represented by the law firm of Howd & Ludorf in Hartford.
Wiacek Farms, LLC is represented by attorney Thomas Minogue.
In October 2009, Lauretti’s lawyer asked Judge Dale Radcliffe to issue a summary judgment in his favor — which, if approved, could have removed Lauretti as a defendant.
The argument: the facts in the lawsuit were already heard during the eminent domain proceedings in 2005. Lee argued that they couldn’t legally be heard again in this new lawsuit.
Minogue, in court filings, rejected that argument, saying the difference in the two legal cases means that the facts could be brought up in the second case. In the eminent domain case, the issue was the value of the land; in the lawsuit against the city, the issue is lost profits.
Radcliffe sided with Wiacek Farms, and in May 2010, he denied Lauretti’s request.
The Appeal
So Lauretti appealed that decision to the higher court. The move stalled the rest of the lawsuit from progressing at Superior Court in Milford.
On Tuesday, a three judge panel from the appellate court in Hartford published its decision.
“The issue of whether the defendant caused the plaintiff monetary damages by improperly interfering with its business expectations is sufficiently different than the issue presented for determination in the injunction proceeding,” the ruling states.
While some of the issues overlap, it doesn’t meet the legal standard to dismiss Lauretti as a defendant, the judges ruled.
Now that the appellate court has issued a decision, the lawsuit can continue at Superior Court in Milford.
“The appellate court said we can move forward with the case, and Lauretti is still a defendant,” Minogue said Wednesday. ​“The decision speaks for itself, and we intend to go forward with the case.”
Lauretti, when reached Wednesday, said he had not heard from his attorney about the ruling yet, but that he had no opinion on it.
“One way or another this is the political process and I’ve just resigned myself that it can go on as long as it wants.”
When asked if he wanted to see the case move toward a trial, Lauretti said:
“We’ve been through many investigation and many trials. This one will have to run its course too.”