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In the case of Torromeo v. Town of Fremont, NAHB’s Legal Affairs staff is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether an NAHB builder member is entitled to receive compensation for the nine months he was prevented from receiving building permits under a local growth control ordinance that was later found to be illegal.
After the state court in New Hampshire found the ordinance illegal and ordered Fremont to give landowner Henry Torromeo the permits he needed, Torromeo sued the town, claiming that his property had been taken for those nine months in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled against Torromeo.
In April, NAHB petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, arguing that the Town of Fremont had exceeded its police powers by enforcing an illegal ordinance and that the New Hampshire Supreme Court had contradicted federal court case law in its decision, which suggested that a taking can only occur after an ordinance has been found to be unconstitutional.
NAHB also argued that the appropriate compensation for Torromeo was compensation, not building permits, as suggested by the New Hampshire court.
The U.S. Supreme Court is not expected to act on this matter until July at the earliest.
The second case, Santini v. Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service, involves a developer who was unable to complete the second phase of his subdivision when it was announced that the site was one of three finalists for a hazardous waste disposal facility.
A map of his property and development, 74 acres of which had been completed, appeared on the front page of the local newspaper adjacent to the international symbol for radioactivity.
In 1994, the developer filed a claim for inverse condemnation in the Connecticut state courts. The case was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he did not prevail.
A takings claim has subsequently been filed in the Second Circuit of the U.S. District Court. In March, NAHB and the HBA of Connecticut filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Santini.
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