April 17, 2018
Boston – A case being handled by Drohan, Hitt & Hadas LLC member John Hitt was recently decided in favor of DHH’s client by the Massachusetts Appeals Court. A link to the decision in Beach v. Town of Norfolk & others, can be found here: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16640567913677861835&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr
The case involved a developer’s civil rights claims alleging that its property rights had been interfered with by the town, the conservation commission, and its staff based on the unfair application of wetlands regulations. The developer originally filed its federal civil rights claims in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The court dismissed the federal court claims and declined to rule on the state law claims. The developer then filed and pursued his state law claims in Massachusetts Superior Court. John Hitt, representing one of the defendants, obtained a judgment in Superior Court in his client’s favor based, in part, on the developer’s failure to state valid claims under state civil rights laws, and, based, in part, on the developer’s failure to answer interrogatories and cooperate in discovery as required by the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure. The developer then appealed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Following briefing and oral arguments, the Appeals Court issued a Rule 1:28 decision affirming the decision of the Superior Court.