Opinion ID: 2982810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: AFR is a Michigan Corporation owned by co-plaintiff TIA. Pennfield is a Michigan charter township that includes parts of Battle Creek, Michigan. In 2002, Pennfield amended a conditional-use permit and granted a use variance to allow the property located on 216 and 218 Saint Mary’s Lake Road in Battle Creek, Michigan to function as a drug-and-alcohol treatment center. Since that time, AFR has operated the Saint Mary’s Lake Road property as a drug-andalcohol treatment facility. In 2012, the Plaintiffs sought to expand the facility and applied for a building permit. Pennfield denied the application and informed the Plaintiffs that they must apply for another use variance from the Pennfield Zoning Board of Appeals. The Plaintiffs applied, and the Zoning Board denied their application in 2013. In response, the Plaintiffs filed suit in Michigan state court on June 18, 2013. Count I of the Plaintiffs’ complaint alleged that Pennfield’s denial of the building permit violated the township’s zoning ordinances. Count II was an inversecondemnation claim alleging that the denial was an uncompensated regulatory taking and a violation of substantive-due-process rights under the Michigan and the United States Constitutions. On July 19, 2013, Pennfield removed the case to federal district court on the basis of federal-question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1441. Six days later, Pennfield filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that all federal questions raised in the complaint were unripe. The Plaintiffs responded in August 2014 by filing a motion to remand to Michigan state court rather than dismiss the case. On November 19, 2014, the district court granted the Plaintiffs’ motion to 2 remand and awarded attorney’s fees to the Plaintiffs because it found that (1) Pennfield lacked an objectively reasonable basis for removal because of well-settled precedent governing the ripeness of takings claims, and (2) Pennfield removed in bad faith to delay litigation because it was aware that the federal claims were unripe at the time of removal. A Forever Recovery, Inc. v. Twp. of Pennfield, No. 1:13-CV-782, 2013 WL 9873171, at  (W.D. Mich. Nov. 19, 2013). On March 10, 2014, the district court determined that the “the attorney’s fee award to be paid is $7,720.” Pennfield timely appeals the district court’s decision only with respect to the award of attorney’s fees.