Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Joel Kennamer v. City of Guntersville, Alabama, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 24-14146 · judgment June 23, 2026
(petition-stage, structural)
Well below the 4.1% base rate: the model weights this down for a self-represented petitioner.
Questions presented
The public property in question was taken by eminent domain, designated as “public park and public pier” in the Order of Consent, for use by all the citizens, and was in use, undisputed, now in the hands of a private developer. The U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the transfer stating that the “city’s actions were lawful under §94.01 (App. pl47aj Alabama Constitution and the city’s non-compliance with certain state laws was irrelevant.” The city defendants invoked §94.01 because it did not require a referendum, knowing it would not pass an election by the voters. The Authority for a lawful transfer is §94(a) (App. pl46a) Alabama Constitution, the instructions for a transfer is §35-4-410 Alabama Code. (App. pl44a) The questions presented are:
-
Whether a municipality has authority to arbitrarily alienate public property, in use by the public.
-
Whether a constitutional right is violated when Alabama Constitution §94(a) requires a referendum to alienate parks, other recreational property, and no referendum or hearing was held in the transfer of the municipal public park, playground, or other recreational property to private developer, Patrick Lawler.
-
Whether this case presents new precedent for private development of public property.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Joel Kennamer
For respondent
C. Gregory Burgess
Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne P.C.
Case
Subject area
Due Process (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Proceedings
- Oct 07 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/6/2026.
- Sep 16 2026Waiver of right of respondents Patrick Lawler; Lakeside Investments, LLC; and Lawler Hotels, LLC (incorrectly identified as Harbor Hotels, LLC in Petition) to respond filed.
- Sep 15 2026Waiver of right of respondents City of Guntersville, Alabama and Mayor Leigh Dollar to respond filed.
- Sep 03 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 14, 2026)