Facts

Charles Long and Elaine Long filed a complaint for damages against the County of Fresno and the county's Director of Public Works and Planning, Alan Weaver.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs alleged that, in October 2004, they purchased a piece of property that had four homes on it and that they intended to use as an investment. Plaintiffs further alleged that, in May 2010, they had a disagreement with the County of Fresno whether one of the structures existed prior to 1958 and would not be subject to current building codes. Plaintiff alleged defendants originally requested two letters to prove the age of the building, but the parties later entered into a remediation agreement that allowed plaintiff to submit one letter from a neutral third party attesting the age of the structure. Plaintiff contended that despite its compliance defendant breached the agreement by rejecting plaintiff's later submitted plans on the basis of Fresno's own "speculations" as to the age of the structure. Plaintiff further contended that they were deprived of their Constitutional equal protection rights.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants argued that plaintiffs equal protection claim failed because plaintiff could not show a high degree of similarity between themselves and the person to which they were comparing themselves. In particular, defendants argued, that plaintiffs had failed to satisfy the "similarly-situated" requirement in that the defendant county had been sending notices of violations to the plaintiffs for over ten years, and plaintiffs did not establish that any other property owner within the county had been so dilatory in bringing their properties into compliance with the building code.

Result

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss. The court held, in part, that plaintiffs' allegations did not show that they were held to a different standard than others in regards to a single versus multiple letter requirement.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Nov. 8, 2013.