WINNEMUCCA - County commissioners are invoking a federal appeals court ruling in their latest legal quest to resolve ongoing litigation over the proposed Jungo Landfill.
Four of the board's five current members, along with former Commissioner Chuck Giordano, argue that they acted as a quasi-judicial entity when they rejected a five-year extension of a conditional use permit for the project.
The defendants' latest court filings quote almost verbatim from a U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which found that the potential for liability is an "especially potent adversary" of objectivity in contentious zoning disputes. In that respect, the Third Circuit declared that a local governing board looks like a court.
"The possibility that they may face expensive and aggravating litigation as a result of every decision they make on land use issues holds the real danger of affecting the Board members' decisions," their motion says. "Thus, the application of quasi-judicial immunity to such situations is justified and serves an important government purpose."
The request is part of a broader motion for summary judgment, which essentially asks the court to rule that no factual issues in the case remain to be tried.
For its part, project developer Jungo Land and Investments alleges that the board's members violated its rights to due process and equal protection under the Constitution, among other things.
In its amended legal complaint, Jungo argues that commissioners held unauthorized public proceedings that were designed to incite opposition to the project.
In addition, the company notes that Humboldt County Code gives the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) the exclusive authority and jurisdiction to review and take action on requests to extend conditional use permits.
The Recology subsidiary also points out that county commissioners had never used the procedures they adopted in April 2010, when the board heard an appeal of the RPC's decision.
"Jungo has been treated differently than all similarly-situated conditional use permit applicants and permittees in Humboldt County," the amended complaint says.
The plaintiff also maintains that commissioners lacked the authority to hear the complaint from Bob Dolan and Massey Mayo, because neither attorney had a legal or property interest in the matter.
A federal district court judge previously sided with Jungo, ruling in December 2011 that county commissioners must reinstate an extension of the conditional use permit.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones of Reno agreed that the board lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal from Dolan and Mayo.
Both parties have since appealed Jones' ruling, albeit for different reasons.
Additional information about the latest motion will appear in a future edition of the Humboldt Sun.
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