July 31, 2018

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted DSB’s motion to dismiss a civil rights action that had been commenced against the Town of Southold, the Board of Town Trustees of the Town of Southold and an employee of the Town. The plaintiff property owners alleged that the Town, the Trustees, and the employee violated their rights to due process and equal protection, and deprived them of their rights under the First Amendment, in connection with a pending land use application for the construction of a house on waterfront property. DSB successfully argued that the complaint should be dismissed on several grounds, including lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the claims were not ripe for judicial review, for failure to state a cause of action, and upon the ground that the federal court should abstain from deciding the plaintiff’s request for injunctive and declaratory relief while a criminal court proceeding related to the land use application was pending in the Town Justice Court.