No. 24-1085

David P. Demarest v. Town of Underhill, Vermont, et al.

Lower Court: Second Circuit
Docketed: 2025-04-17
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived Experienced Counsel
Tags: class-of-one constitutional-rights equal-protection first-amendment municipal-retaliation property-rights
Latest Conference: 2025-05-15
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. When a property owner exercises his First Amendment right to speak out at public meetings, does it violate that Constitutional guarantee when the governmental body punishes the citizen by interfering with access to his property?

2. When local government treats similarly situated property owners differently for no valid reason, particularly when some of those other, comparator-owners are officials or employees of the very agency engaging in the disparate treatment, has a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection guarantee occurred?

3. In order to state an equal protection claim under the Court's standards for a "class of one," is it sufficient for the complaint to allege different treatment for similarly situated parties? Is the inequality exacerbated when the comparators are officials of the defendant government agency and profit from the differential treatment?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

When a property owner exercises his First Amendment right to speak out at public meetings, does it violate that Constitutional guarantee when the governmental body punishes the citizen by interfering with access to his property?

Docket Entries

2025-05-19
Petition DENIED.
2025-04-23
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/15/2025.
2025-04-17
Waiver of Underhill, VT, et al. of right to respond submitted.
2025-04-17
Waiver of right of respondent Underhill, VT, et al. to respond filed.
2025-04-14
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 19, 2025)

Attorneys

David P. Demarest
Michael M. BergerManatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Petitioner
Underhill, VT, et al.
Kevin Louis KiteCarroll, Boe & Kite, P.C., Respondent