SouthPointe Partners, LLC v. Louisville Metro Government, et al.

The Louisville Metro Planning Commission denied a developer’s applications for approval of a minor plat and a related waiver after announcing their bias in favor of witnesses opposing the applications. The developer appealed to state court under a state statute, which provided judicial review of Planning Commission decisions. Though the trial court reversed the agency’s decision, it also held that the state statute affording the appeal was the developer’s “exclusive remedy” that precluded the developer from separately pursuing a federal claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the individual Planning Commission members for their failure to provide an impartial tribunal in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed that the state statute barred § 1983 claims against Respondents as part of either the same or separate lawsuits. The question presented is: Can a state statute providing a right of appeal from an administrative decision serve as an “exclusive remedy” to bar separate federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983?