On August 13, 2010 a jury awarded George and Margaret Paeth, clients of Dalton & Tomich, PLC a record setting verdict of $600,000 in a significant land use and zoning case. The jury found that throughout the past five (5) years, the elected and appointed officials of Worth Township, Michigan have used their governmental powers in an unlawful and spiteful manner to drive the George and Margaret Paeth out of Worth Township because they dared to question the elected officials’ governance. In an attempt to construct their dream home, the Paeth’s found themselves in a constant battle with the Township and its building inspector mostly in the issuance and subsequent unlawful revocation of their water and building permits. The battle culminated in November 2007, after the Township, in losing to the Paeth’s in Sanilac Circuit Court over a zoning variance, unlawfully issued a stop work order without any basis and admittedly without providing Plaintiffs any notice or opportunity to be heard before the issuance of the stop work order, as required under Michigan state law. These acts deprived the Paeth’s of their constitutional rights – retaliation for exercise of their First Amendment Rights, their Procedural and Substantive Due Process and their right to Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment – and the Township is liable for these deprivations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Opinion sets for the facts of the case in greater detail.
