Opinion ID: 613273
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Substantial Burden, Discrimination, Unreasonable Limit (Counts VI, VIII, IX)

Text: The district court concluded that the 2004 Ordinance did not impose a substantial burden on religious exercise in violation of RLUIPA (Count VI) (42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(a)(1)); that the 2004 Ordinance did not discriminate against Covenant on the basis of religion in violation of RLUIPA (Count VIII) (42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(2)); and that the 2004 Ordinance did not unreasonably limit religious assemblies in violation of RLUIPA (Count IX) (42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(3)). The court granted summary judgment in favor of the City on these claims. We may affirm this grant of summary judgment on any ground supported by the record. Rozar v. Mullis, 85 F.3d 556, 564 (11th Cir.1996) (citation omitted). We need not address each of these RLUIPA claims individually in order to affirm the district court's judgment dismissing these claims. Instead, we affirm the judgment dismissing these claims on the ground that Covenant has failed to produce evidence that it suffered damages as a result of the 2004 Ordinance. In the previous section, we explained that Covenant is not entitled to an injunction allowing it to build its church in the R-2 residential zone because all claims seeking injunctive relief are moot due to passage of the 2008 Ordinance. Because Covenant is not entitled to an injunction allowing it to construct a church in the R-2 residential zone, Covenant cannot recover any damages that stem from the inability to build its church in this zone. And, those damages are the only damages that Covenant has identified in this case. Thus, to the extent that Count VI, Count VIII, and Count IX all seek damages, we conclude that those claims, while not moot, fail on the merits because they seek damages Covenant cannot recover.