Opinion ID: 482848
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The State Statutes

Text: 32 The plaintiffs launch their last constitutional missile against the facial validity of portions of the Massachusetts zoning statutes. Insofar as they bombard the sufficiency of the form of notice required under M.G.L. ch. 40A, Sec. 11 and the adequacy of the protocol for the hearing which was held pursuant to M.G.L. ch. 40A, Sec. 15, they do nothing more than recostume some of the constitutional claims leveled against the practices of the Board--claims which we have already rejected as unfounded. See ante Part II(A). These frayed arguments take on no added allure in the garb of challenges to the constitutionality of the statutes themselves. On the basis of the reasons which we have previously articulated, we dismiss them out of hand. 33 The appellants' last strike is new to our treatment of the issues in the case--yet we need not linger long in considering it. The plaintiffs urge that the post-deprivation remedies accorded them were constitutionally deficient. Specifically, they argue that M.G.L. ch. 40A, Sec. 17, the pertinent text of which is set forth in the margin, see ante n. 2, fails to allow them appropriate compensation for their losses. And, we assume that such remuneration is indeed beyond their reach as a matter of state law, since they admit that the Board did not act with gross negligence, in bad faith or with malice. See id. Because they are given no state law damages remedy for the good faith--but erroneous--revocation of the permit, the appellants contend that this means their property was taken without recompense. They conveniently overlook the ironic fact that the very statute which they now revile was itself the vehicle through which they regained the permit, and insist that the Constitution entitles them to a monetary anodyne. 34 The plaintiffs' fundamental assumption has been entirely discredited, however, by Parratt and its progeny. In Parratt, the Court held that a convict whose property was lost by prison officials could not sue for damages under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 because state tort law was adequate to redress the grievance. Although the state remedies may not provide ... all the relief which may have been available ... under Sec. 1983, that does not mean that the state remedies are not adequate to satisfy the requirements of due process. Parratt, 451 U.S. at 544, 101 S.Ct. at 1917. The Court reaffirmed this principle in Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 533, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 3203, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984), in the context of intentional property deprivations. That state law procedures may not allow one to recover the full amount which he might receive in a Sec. 1983 action is not ... determinative of the [constitutional] adequacy of the state remedies. Id. at 535, 104 S.Ct. at 3204. 35 Our decisions, both before and after Parratt and Hudson, are harmonious with these tenets. See, e.g., Alton Land Trust v. Town of Alton, 745 F.2d 730, 732-33 (1st Cir.1984) (rebuffing claim for damages under the due process and takings clauses where denial of subdivision application led to loss of subject property by foreclosure); Citadel Corp. v. Puerto Rico Highway Authority, 695 F.2d 31, 33-34 (1st Cir.1982) (damages not available under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 for excessive state land-use regulation), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 815, 104 S.Ct. 72, 78 L.Ed.2d 85 (1983); Pamel Corp. v. Puerto Rico Highway Authority, 621 F.2d 33, 35-36 (1st Cir.1980) (same). The plaintiffs here are no differently situated insofar as state law remedies than were the litigants who, precedent teaches, failed to state constitutional claims in Cloutier, Chiplin Enterprises, and Creative Environments, all supra. The failure of the Massachusetts statutory scheme to confer a more generous damages entitlement falls well within the range of constitutionally acceptable choices which the Commonwealth, in our federalist system, is allowed to make. The contention that M.G.L. ch. 40A, Sec. 17 runs afoul of the takings clause is fanciful. See Alton Land Trust, 745 F.2d at 732-33; Roy, 712 F.2d at 1523.