27 May 2022,
 Off

Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov v. Village of Pomona.

May 27, 2022:  The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a summary order ruling in favor of the Village of Pomona and affirming the lower court’s dismissal of a Complaint filed by the Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov, which asserted various discrimination claims against the Village.
The US Court of Appeals of the Second Circuit Court today (“Second Circuit”) issued a decision today in favor of the Village of Pomona, upholding the dismissal of the claims of the Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov (“Tartikov”) filed against the Village. Despite almost 15 years of litigation, Tartikov has yet to file any application for development of its land and that failure by Tartikov resulted in another court victory for the Village of Pomona in the federal courts.
In 2019, the Second Circuit had considered substantially similar claims filed by Tartikov and ruled in favor of the Village on those claims. The Second Circuit determined that Tartikov had never filed any development application and that its claimed harm was hypothetical and conjectural and that Tartikov therefore they lacked standing to bring its claims.
Following that decision, in 2020, Tartikov filed a zoning petition with the Village, asking the Village to repeal certain local laws regarding educational institutions that had been previously upheld as valid by the Second Circuit in 2019. Tartikov’s proposed zoning amendments would have resulted in an unconstitutional Village zoning code and the Village accordingly declined to consider Tartikov’s zoning petition.
Tartikov then filed a Complaint against the Village in August of 2020, claiming that the Village’s refusal to adopt that unconstitutional law harmed them and that their claims were no longer conjectural. The Village moved to dismiss the Complaint and, in 2021, the Southern District of New York court granted the Village’s motion, dismissing the Complaint and finding that Tartikov still had not filed any application for development and that its claims were merely conjectural.
Tartikov then appealed that decision to the Second Circuit. The case was argued before the Court on May 19, 2022. Today, less than two weeks after oral argument, the Second Circuit issued its summary order, dealing Tartikov another loss and determining that by failing to file an developmet application, Tartikov’s claims remain conjectural and unripe for adjudication.
Brian D. Nugent (Feerick Nugent MacCartney, Nyack NY) argued the case for the Village of Pomona and Roman P. Storzer (Storzer & Asociates, Washington D.C.) argued the case for Tartikov.
Feerick Nugent MacCartney acknowledges the outstanding work of partners Brian D. Nugent and Donald J. Feerick, Jr, and Associate Matthew W. Lizotte in successfully representing the Village on this appeal.