Contractor’s Licenses and Lien Rights
Contractors, like many others, are regulated professionals. In order to engage in “contracting”, a person must have a license, which requires the passage of an exam and proving financial security.
Sign Ordinance Upheld
A couple of years ago, I posted a comment on an interesting sign case involving a spray-painted message on the front of a home in the town of Cary, North Carolina. You can find that post here. The town lost in front of the trial court, which concluded that the sign ordinance violated the First…
Encountering a burial ground during construction: Is your project dead?
Tennessee is experiencing significant growth, and is expected to continue to grow. This growth should lead to more commercial, industrial and residential development. Given our history as a rural and (at one point) frontier state, many developers may encounter a truly unexpected site condition: grave sites. The presence of a burial ground will impact the…
McBride v Farragut BZA
McBride v. Farragut Board of Zoning Appeals, (Tenn App November 29, 2012) The petitioning homeowner, lived in a residence constructed in 1971 with a raised concrete deck on the rear of her home. In 2011, she submitted an application to erect columns and a roof over the existing deck. The local zoning ordinance permitted patios…
Equal Protection, Class of One
Loessel v City of Frankenmuth, 692 F. 3d 452 (6th Cir. 2012) This is an interesting case where a city with a historic town center attempted to keep Wal-Mart from opening a store in its downtown area. The owners of the property contracted with Wal-Mart to sell the property for the use as a store,…