DRB #24, LLC v. City of Minneapolis, No. 13-3385 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseMinneapolis imposes an annual vacant building registration fee on owners of vacant buildings “to recover all costs incurred by the city for monitoring and regulating vacant buildings, including nuisance abatement, enforcement and administrative costs.” If unpaid, the city can levy and collect the fee as a special assessment against the property. DRB owns a vacant building in Minneapolis and for several years failed to pay that registration fee. In 2011, DRB received notice the city intended to assess $6,550 for DRB’s unpaid 2010 fee. After a hearing attended by DRB, an administrative hearing officer levied the fee. This process repeated in 2012 and a fee of $6,746 was levied. DRB did not appeal either assessment, but brought a separate suit, on behalf of itself and similarly situated landowners. A magistrate judge recommended judgment in favor of the city, concluding the city had provided DRB with proper notice of the assessments and DRB did not bring its challenges to the assessments within the statutory 30-day appeal period. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s adoption of the recommendation.
Court Description: Civil case. The notice provided plaintiff was sufficient to give notice of the basis for the vacant building fee being imposed so that plaintiff could determine the fee's validity and challenge the application of the fee at an administrative hearing; by failing to appeal the claims within 30 days after the assessment was levied, in compliance with Minn. Stat. Section 429.081, plaintiff waived its substantive attacks on the fees; plaintiff's common law claims challenged the validity and accuracy of the vacant building registration fee and, as such, are attacks on the special assessment and are governed by the statute's 30-day deadline. [ December 22, 2014
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