415 F.

3d 135

SFW ARECIBO, LTD. and FW Associates, Ltd., Plaintiffs,

Appellants,
v.
Angel D. RODRGUEZ; Wanda Cap; Wanda Marrero;
Frederick Muhlach, in his personal and official capacity as a
member of the Planning Board of Puerto Rico; Fernando Flix,
in his personal and official capacity as a member of the
Planning Board of Puerto Rico; and Nelson Vlez, in his
personal and official capacity as a member of the Planning
Board of Puerto Rico, Defendants, Appellees.
No. 04-2587.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard May 3, 2005.
Decided July 14, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Rubn T. Nigaglioni, with whom

Nigaglioni & Ferraiuoli Law Offices, PSC was on brief, for appellants.
Irene S. Soroeta-Kodesh, Assistant Solicitor General, with whom
Salvador J. Antonetti Stutts, Solicitor General, and Mariana D. Negrn
Vargas, Deputy Solicitor General, were on brief, for appellees.
Before BOUDIN, Chief Judge, LYNCH and LIPEZ, Circuit Judges.
LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arose from a dispute over a land use permit for the development of
a shopping center in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Two real estate developers sued
members of the Puerto Rico Planning Board in the United States District Court
for the District of Puerto Rico pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that the
Planning Board, which reviews proposed development projects throughout the
Commonwealth, violated various provisions of the United State Constitution
when it erroneously determined that the developers' land use permit had
expired without the commencement of "actual and effective construction."1 The

district court dismissed the complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for

failure to state a claim. The developers filed a timely appeal. Seeing "nothing in
the present case to distinguish it sufficiently from the usual land developer's
claim under state law to warrant recognition of a federal constitutional
question," Creative Env'ts, Inc. v. Estabrook, 680 F.2d 822, 833 (1st Cir.1982),
we affirm.
I.
2

The appellants, real estate developers SFW Arecibo Ltd. Partnership and FW
Associates Ltd. Partnership ("Developers"), are constructing a shopping center
in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The Planning Board approved a preliminary
development plan for the project on August 26, 1996, and issued a land use
permit that required the Developers to begin actual and effective construction
by December 16, 1998. Once the permit was issued, the Developers had to
apply to the Puerto Rico Permits and Regulations Administration ("ARPE") for
specific construction permits.

On November 16, 1998, the Developers requested that the Planning Board
extend the deadline by which actual and effective construction had to begin.
The request was denied on December 9, 1998. Nevertheless, the Developers
obtained the relevant permits from the ARPE and began to excavate and lay
foundations before the December 16, 1998 deadline for commencement of
actual and effective construction. The ARPE agreed that the Developers had
met the deadline and continued to issue permits for the project.

On January 27, 2003, the Developers requested that the Planning Board clarify
whether the original land use permit would allow for the building of a Home
Depot store in the shopping center. The Planning Board denied the request for
clarification on February 21, 2003, explaining that the land use permit had
expired on December 16, 1998 because the Developers had not commenced
actual and effective construction by that deadline. The Planning Board also
informed the ARPE that the underlying land use permit had expired, and thus
that it could no longer issue construction permits for the Developers' project.

On July 3, 2003, the Developers appealed to the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals
for administrative review of the Planning Board's decision. The Puerto Rico
appellate court sided with the Developers, ruling on August 25, 2004 that the
Planning Board's decision was erroneous and that the Board's actions violated
the Developers' ownership rights as set forth in the Puerto Rico Constitution.
FW Assocs. v. Junta De Planificacin, No. KLRA-03-00476, 2004 WL
2480859 (P.R. Ct.App. Aug. 25, 2004). The Puerto Rico appellate court's

decision is currently pending before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.

6

Not content to limit their claims to the courts of Puerto Rico, the Developers
also filed a 1983 action against members of the Planning Board in federal
district court on September 5, 2003. In their federal complaint, the Developers
alleged that the Planning Board's erroneous revocation of the land use permit
violated their rights under the Takings, Due Process, and Equal Protection
Clauses of the federal Constitution.2 The Planning Board responded by filing a
motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. See Fed.R.Civ.P.
12(b)(6).

The Developers failed to reply to the 12(b)(6) motion within the time allotted.
Several days after the deadline had passed, the Developers requested an
extension of time to file their opposition. On January 12, 2004, the district court
denied the request for an extension and deemed the motion to dismiss
unopposed. The district court subsequently issued an opinion and order
dismissing the case pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). The court's ruling rested solely
on our precedent in PFZ Properties, Inc. v. Rodriguez, 928 F.2d 28 (1st Cir.
1991), because that case, in the court's view, "resolved a controversy nearly
identical to the one present in the instant case." SFW Arecibo, Ltd. v.
Rodriguez, No. 03-1970 (D.P.R. Sept. 22, 2004).

II.
8

We review a district court's grant of a motion to dismiss de novo. Greene v.

Rhode Island, 398 F.3d 45, 48 (1st Cir. 2005).3 In so doing, we accept as true
the well-pleaded factual allegations of the complaint, drawing all reasonable
inferences in the non-movants' favor. Id.
A. Takings Claim

The Developers assert that the Planning Board's erroneous determination that
their permit expired without the commencement of actual and effective
construction amounted to a taking of private property without just
compensation, thereby violating the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the
United States Constitution. This claim is premature. It is well-settled that "if a
State provides an adequate procedure for seeking just compensation, the
property owner cannot claim a violation of the Just Compensation Clause until
it has used the procedure and been denied just compensation." Williamson Cty.
Reg'l Planning Comm'n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172, 195,
105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985). Adequate procedures for seeking just

compensation are available under Puerto Rico law. See Deniz v. Mun. of
Guaynabo, 285 F.3d 142, 146-47 (1st Cir.2002) (concluding that Puerto Rico
case law recognizes an inverse condemnation remedy by which property
owners can seek just compensation). Because the Developers have not sought
just compensation through those state law procedures, their complaint does not
state a valid federal takings claim. See id. at 149 ("A plaintiff's failure to
exhaust the inverse condemnation remedy renders premature a section 1983
damages action predicated upon an alleged takings violation.").
B. Procedural Due Process Claim
10

To establish a procedural due process claim under 1983, a plaintiff "must

allege first that it has a property interest as defined by state law and, second,
that the defendants, acting under color of state law, deprived it of that property
interest without constitutionally adequate process." PFZ Prop., 928 F.2d at 30.
Here, the Developers assert that the Planning Board violated their procedural
due process rights when it determined that the land use permit had expired and
revoked it without notice or a hearing. That assertion is misguided. If the
Developers have a property interest in the land use permit (we assume
arguendo that they do), the post-deprivation process available to them under
Puerto Rico law is a constitutionally adequate protection for that interest.

11

The Developers do not challenge the adequacy of the permitting procedures

established by Puerto Rico law. Instead, they allege that the Planning Board
illegally revoked their land use permit without jurisdiction to do so. We
rejected an analogous due process claim in PFZ Properties, explaining that in
this context, our focus is on the availability of post-deprivation, rather than predeprivation, process:

12

When a deprivation of property results from conduct of state officials violative

of state law, the Supreme Court has held that failure to provide pre-deprivation
process does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.... The state is not required
to anticipate such violations of its own constitutionally adequate procedures. To
hold otherwise would convert every departure from established administrative
procedures into a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, cognizable under
1983.... [T]he only question is whether the post-deprivation process available to
[the plaintiff] is adequate.

13

Id. at 31 (internal citations omitted). We went on to hold that "the combination

of administrative and judicial remedies provided by Puerto Rico law is
sufficient to meet the requirements of due process." Id.

14

The post-deprivation process that we found adequate in PFZ Properties

included the right to petition the administrative agency for reconsideration and
to seek judicial review in the courts of Puerto Rico. Id. The same procedures for
review were available in this case. The Developers petitioned the Planning
Board to reconsider its ruling. It then sought judicial review before the Puerto
Rico Court of Appeals, which ruled in its favor. That ruling is now pending
before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. A holding that the Developers had a
federal procedural due process claim on these facts would contravene our case
law. See id. at 31; see also Nestor Colon Medina & Sucesores, Inc. v. Custodio,
964 F.2d 32, 40 (1st Cir.1992).

15

The Developers nevertheless attempt to distinguish PFZ Properties on several

grounds, none of which is persuasive. First, they contend that "the plaintiff in
[PFZ Properties] claimed an entitlement to a construction permit that was never
issued and over which the plaintiff never acquired a vested property interest
[while] this case deals with permits that were issued and revoked after the
Developers had effectively acquired a vested right." This point is inapposite.
Although the PFZ Properties court was skeptical of the plaintiff's claimed
property interest, it assumed arguendo that the plaintiffs did have such an
interest and that the agency's actions had deprived it of that interest. See 928
F.2d at 31. PFZ Properties turned not on the nature of the developer's property
right, but on the availability of post-deprivation process. Id. Nowhere in the
opinion did we suggest that the constitutional standard by which we judge the
adequacy of post-deprivation relief varies with the strength of the plaintiff's
claimed property interest.

16

The Developers also assert that PFZ Properties is distinguishable because here,
"the Planning Board could have, should have, and must have provided the
Developers with a hearing prior to revoking the land use permit over which
they had a vested property right." The logic of this claim is not clear. Even if
the Planning Board should have provided the Developers with a hearing in this
case (a judgment we do not make), the alleged deprivation of property, as in
PFZ Properties, "results from conduct of state officials violative of state law."
Id. The Developers concede as much elsewhere in their brief, acknowledging
that "since ... the Planning Board acted ultra vires [when it revoked the permit],
there really is no process that could have been afforded to safeguard the
Developers' constitutional rights." As in PFZ Properties, then, the only
question is whether adequate post-deprivation process was available to the
plaintiffs. We agree with the district court that adequate post-deprivation
process was available here in the form of administrative and judicial review of
the Planning Board's decision. The plaintiffs have not stated a procedural due
process claim upon which relief can be granted.

C. Substantive Due Process

17

Asserting that the Planning Board acted without jurisdiction when it revoked
the permit and that it improperly usurped ARPE's jurisdiction by restraining
that agency from granting any additional permits,4 the Developers also claim a
violation of their substantive due process rights. This claim, too, is foreclosed
by PFZ Properties and subsequent case law.

18

In PFZ Properties, we explained the standard for establishing a substantive due

process violation in the land use permitting context:

19

This Court has repeatedly held ... that rejections of development projects and
refusals to issue building permits do not ordinarily implicate substantive due
process. Even where state law officials have allegedly violated state law or
administrative procedures, such violations do not ordinarily rise to the level of a
constitutional deprivation. The doctrine of substantive due process does not
protect individuals from all [governmental] actions that infringe liberty or
injure property in violation of some law. Rather, substantive due process
prevents governmental power from being used for purposes of oppression, or
abuse of government power that shocks the conscience, or action that is legally
irrational in that it is not sufficiently keyed to any legitimate state interests.

20

Id. at 31-32 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted) (brackets in

original). Although "[w]e have left the door slightly ajar for federal relief in
truly horrendous situations, . . . . the threshold for establishing the requisite
`abuse of government power' is a high one indeed." Colon, 964 F.2d at 45.

21

The Developers' allegations concerning the Planning Board's determination that

the permit expired without the commencement of actual and effective
construction do not state a substantive due process violation under this standard.
In its strongest form, the Developers' claim is essentially that the Planning
Board made an erroneous decision in violation of state law. This claim is
indistinguishable from the one we rejected in PFZ Properties. See 928 F.2d at
32 (holding that "PFZ's allegations that ARPE officials failed to comply with
agency regulations or practices in the review and approval process for the
construction drawings are not sufficient to support a substantive due process
claim"); see also Licari v. Ferruzzi, 22 F.3d 344, 349 (1st Cir.1994) (rejecting a
substantive due process claim based on allegations that a town planning board
improperly revoked the developer's building permits and delayed processing
and approval of an application for an amended permit). We agree with the
district court that the plaintiffs have not stated a substantive due process claim

upon which relief can be granted.

D. Equal Protection
22

Finally, the Developers recast the permit revocation as an equal protection

violation. Emphasizing that laying a foundation ordinarily qualifies as actual
and effective construction, the Developers point out that the Planning Board
determined in this case that the Developers had not commenced actual and
effective construction by December 16, 1998 despite the fact that they had
begun laying a foundation. The Developers reason that by determining that
laying a foundation did not constitute actual and effective construction, the
Planning Board "treated them differently than all others who are similarly
situated" in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection
Clause. We disagree.

23

Although a land use dispute may give rise to an equal protection claim in
extreme circumstances, see Colon, 964 F.2d at 44, such circumstances are not
present here. The Developers allege no facts that suggest invidious
discrimination based on a prohibited category such as race or sex, nor have they
pointed to an egregious procedural irregularity or abuse of power that might
constitute a federal equal protection violation. See id. They assert only that they
were treated differently from other individuals who lay a foundation before a
permit deadline for the commencement of actual and effective construction.
That allegation, however, "represents nothing more than a claim that [the
permitting agency] departed from its own procedures or those provided by
Puerto Rico law." PFZ Props., 928 F.2d at 32. Absent facts reflecting more
fundamental discrimination, the plaintiffs have not stated a claim under the
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

24

Affirmed.

Notes:
1

Puerto Rico law defines "actual and effective construction" or, as the parties
refer to it, "real and effective construction" as "the commencement of the
works of urbanization and the construction of a permanent structure on the
land, that is to say, any work done beyond the stage of excavation." 23 P.R.
Laws Ann. 62o.

The Fifth Amendment Takings Clause provides that "private property [shall

not] be taken for public use, without just compensation." U.S. Const. amend. V.
This clause applies to the states under the Fourteenth AmendmentSee Pascoag
Reservoir & Dam, LLC v. Rhode Island, 337 F.3d 87, 92 n. 4 (1st Cir.2003),
cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1090, 124 S.Ct. 962, 157 L.Ed.2d 795 (2003). The
Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses provide that
"[no] State [shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, 1.
3

Emphasizing that the Developers failed to oppose the motion to dismiss in the
district court, the appellees assert that the Developers have waived their
substantive claims on appeal. The Developers respond that the district court
granted the motion to dismiss based substantially on arguments not raised in the
motion itself, and therefore that they could not have been expected to raise the
claims in the district court that they advance on appeal. While it is true that the
Developers could have raised these claims in a post-judgment motion, we will
not treat their failure to do so as a waiver in this caseSee United States v.
LaGuardia, 902 F.2d 1010, 1013 (1st Cir.1990) (explaining that an appellate
court may relax the raise-or-waive rule under certain circumstances). Instead,
we will follow the lead of the district court and address the Developers' claims
on their merits.

According to the Developers, "the Planning Board warned ARPE that it could
proceed no further,i.e., that it could not issue further permits, since the Land
Use Permit expired on December 16, 1998 without the Developers having
engaged in `[actual] and effective' construction."