Opinion ID: 682741
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Port Chester's zoning ordinance prohibited the operation of a cabaret in the zone encompassing LaTrieste's site. In December 1989, the Port Chester Zoning Board of Appeals granted to Citrone Development Corporation, the previous occupant of the site, a use variance which permitted it to operate a cabaret--that is, to feature dancing and live entertainment--on its premises after its dinner hour ended. Under the terms of the variance, the cabaret hours [were] to start no earlier than 10 p.m. 3 In February 1992, LaTrieste entered into a lease for the same property. From May 1992 until May 1993, LaTrieste operated a dinner/cabaret format on the premises. LaTrieste submitted undisputed evidence that during this period it openly operated as a cabaret prior to 10 p.m., with the full knowledge of village officials, and without the village ever seeking to enforce the restriction. 1 Judge Brieant found it undisputed that during this period [d]efendants knew LaTrieste was operating in violation [of the 10 p.m. restriction], but did nothing. (JA159) Because the Italian restaurant/cabaret format turned out to be financially unsustainable, LaTrieste switched to a sports bar/topless cabaret format in May 1993. LaTrieste alleges that when it began featuring topless entertainment, the village began a pattern of harassment designed to prevent LaTrieste from doing so. The harassment included summonses, arrests, fines, the sudden enforcement of a variety of ordinances and regulations, the issuance of numerous notices of violation, and a refusal to act on LaTrieste's applications for permits. 2 In May 1993, the village sent LaTrieste notice that it was violating the 10 p.m. requirement of its variance, and that it must cease operating before 10 p.m. or face the revocation of its certificate of occupancy. 4 LaTrieste then petitioned the Zoning Board of Appeals to lift the 10 p.m. restriction on the grounds that its operation as a cabaret prior to 10 p.m. would not cause traffic congestion; a public hearing was held on the issue on May 25, 1993. Many Port Chester residents, including the mayor, spoke out against topless dancing at the meeting and urged the board to deny the request for a waiver. The board held that the time to appeal the restriction had expired thirty days after its issuance in 1989, and denied the request to lift the condition. 5 In September 1993, LaTrieste commenced a proceeding in New York State Supreme Court against the village's Zoning Board under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules. LaTrieste's petition sought to vacate the zoning board's decision and to require it to lift the 10 p.m. restriction. Justice Lange held that because LaTrieste knew or should have known of the conditions of the variance when it leased the property, any hardship was self-created; he denied the petition. (JA58). 6 On January 14, 1994 and on February 16, 1994, LaTrieste received letters from the Port Chester police department stating that LaTrieste's certificate of occupancy would be revoked if it did not cease operating before 10 p.m. 7 On January 18, 1994, LaTrieste commenced this action. The complaint alleges that village officials, by a campaign of harassment intended to put LaTrieste out of business, are denying it equal protection of the laws and interfering with its First Amendment rights; it seeks an injunction barring the village from revoking its certificate of occupancy by reason of violation of the 10 p.m. restriction, and from unlawfully interfering with LaTrieste's right to allow topless dancing. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, finding that LaTrieste was collaterally precluded from once again litigating the same issue or fact [as previously litigated in the Article 78 proceeding], even if that subsequent litigation is based upon a different claim or legal theory. Because we agree with the plaintiffs that they have raised colorable issues of fact, and that the instant lawsuit is not barred by the Article 78 adjudication, we reverse the grant of summary judgment.