FEDERAL JUDGE RULES THAT JACKSON CITY EMPLOYEES DO NOT HAVE GOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY AND MAY BE HELD PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ENFORCEMENT OF JACKSON’S CONTROVERSIAL CHAPTER 14 RENTAL PROPERTY ORDINANCE
Lansing, MI – John W. Toivonen, representing several Jackson rental property owner plaintiffs filed class action litigation in Federal Court against the city of Jackson and multiple city employees on May 19, 2022 challenging numerous sections of the controversial Chapter 14 Jackson rental property ordinance known as the Non-Owner Occupied Residential Property Registry (N.O.O.R.P.) city program and its enforcement.
In an Order issued on December 9, 2022, Stephen J. Murphy III, United States District judge, affirmed that city employees who enforced the Chapter 14 rental code, do not have governmental immunity, and may stand trial. This group of city employees includes SHANE LAPORTE, Assistant City Manager, Director of Community Development and former Chapter 14 Code enforcement official, MATTHEW HAGERTY, city attorney, and BRIAN TAYLOR, Chief Building Official.
Amongst the many infamous Chapter 14 city ordinance violations of established Constitutional law the city forces rental property owners to endure that Toivonen argues in his complaint are:
- Collecting approximately $4.7 million dollars in unlawful rental property inspection fees since the inception of the Chapter 14 program as the inspection ordinance was arbitrary, capricious, and Constitutionally void for its vagueness as a person of common intelligence could not decipher what the inspection schedule was. The Chapter 14 Section 42 inspection ordinance allowed city inspectors unfettered discretion to conduct rental property inspections “in the manner best calculated to secure compliance with this article and appropriate to the needs of the community” and “to make or cause to be made such inspections of dwellings or dwelling units as are necessary to enforce the provisions of this article.” The city subsequently changed the inspection ordinance in July 2021 to reflect an inspection schedule to coincide with the mandatory property registration requirement of a N.O.O.R.P property which is currently every 3 years. The action of the city of Jackson modifying the inspection ordinance in July 2021 strongly suggests that the city recognized their exposure to liability with the ordinance as previously written.
- Assessing an owner of rental property a $255.00 penalty in the form of a “no show” fee who exercised their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and subsequently demanded that the city obtain a search warrant to conduct a rental property inspection. The city stopped this practice after the class action litigation was filed by Toivonen.
- Depriving property owners of required Constitutionally mandated Fourteenth Amendment due process by not providing for any method for a property owner to appeal any Chapter 14 city assessed fees and changing the Chapter 14 ordinance Section 51 from “Appeal” to “Variance”.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOUR MEDIA ORGANIZATION PROVIDE COVERAGE OF THIS NEWSWORTHY EVENT AS THIS INVOLVES CLASS ACTION LITIGATION WITH A LARGE GROUP OF VICTIMS WHO ARE ENTITLED TO REDRESS FOR THESE EGRIGIOUS UNLAWFUL ACTIONS THAT WERE AND ARE CONTINUING TO BE FORCED UPON THIS CLASS BY A HOSTILE AND UNRELENTING MUNICIPALTY-THE CITY OF JACKSON.
THIRD FEDERAL LAWSUIT FILED OVER THE CITY OF JACKSONS’ CONTROVERSIAL CHAPTER 14 RENTAL PROPERTY ORDINANCE
Lansing, MI — Attorney John W. Toivonen, representing several Jackson rental property owner plaintiffs filed class action litigation in Federal Court on May 19 challenging numerous sections of the controversial Chapter 14 Jackson rental property ordinance known as the Non-Owner Occupied Residential Property Registry (N.O.O.R.P.) city program.
The 230 page complaint demonstrates that Jackson building department officials enforce the N.O.O.R.P. rental property ordinance with a “Kafkaesque” vengeance against rental property owners in the city of Jackson which resulted in the collection of millions of dollars in unlawful inspection fees, the deprivation of the Fourth Amendment Right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the deprivation of the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.
Amongst the many infamous Chapter 14 city ordinance violations of established Constitutional law the city forces rental property owners to endure that Toivonen argues in his complaint are:
- Collecting approximately $4.7 million dollars in unlawful rental property inspection fees since the inception of the Chapter 14 program as the inspection ordinance was arbitrary, capricious, and Constitutionally void for its vagueness as a person of common intelligence could not decipher what the inspection schedule was. The Chapter 14 Section 42 inspection ordinance allowed city inspectors unfettered discretion to conduct rental property inspections “in the manner best calculated to secure compliance with this article and appropriate to the needs of the community” and “to make or cause to be made such inspections of dwellings or dwelling units as are necessary to enforce the provisions of this article.” The city subsequently changed the inspection ordinance in July 2021 to reflect an inspection schedule to coincide with the mandatory property registration requirement of a N.O.O.R.P property which is currently every 3 years. The action of the city of Jackson modifying the inspection ordinance in July 2021 strongly suggests that the city recognized their exposure to liability with the ordinance as previously written.
- Forcing owners of vacant residential property to accede to a Chapter 14 Non Owner Occupied Residential Property inspection regimen even though their property met the qualifications of vacant as defined by Jackson Chapter 14 ordinance and was therefore exempt from inspection. This unlawful action by the city resulted in thousands of dollars of unnecessary repair costs to property owners and in some instances the demolition of the structure inspected.
- Assessing rental property owners’ a $255.00 penalty fee who challenged the authority of the city to conduct a rental property inspection by not allowing the city inspectors to conduct an inspection and then subsequently making that penalty a lien on the property.
- Depriving property owners of required Constitutionally mandated Fourteenth Amendment due process by not providing for any method for a property owner to appeal any Chapter 14 city assessed fees and changing the Chapter 14 ordinance Section 51 from “Appeal” to “Variance”. Prior to this city change of that section of the ordinance a property owner could appeal any violation cited by a Jackson inspector and request that the violation be stricken from the required repairs demanded by the city inspector. Now a property owner can no longer “Appeal” an alleged code violation but is strictly limited to a “Variance” of the cited violation even if the inspector did not interpret the code correctly and was wrong in citing the violation.