Enforcement of Zoning Code Does Not Amount To Conspiracy To Infringe Free Exercise Rights

In Salman v. City of Phoenix, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86984 (D AZ, Aug. 5, 2011), an Arizona federal district court dismissed a suit that had been brought by a couple who were born-again Christians who alleged that the city of Phoenix and certain city officials and employees had conspired to deprive them of their rights to the free exercise  of religion.  The claims grew out of the city's execution of a search warrant, other enforcement activities and prosecution of plaintiffs for various building and zoning code violations.  Plaintiffs were using their home and an adjacent building for religious services which 40 to 50 people attended, and displayed in their yard of a reader board containing Biblical verses. The court concluded that:

Plaintiffs' allegations describe only defendants' repeated efforts to enforce the law, in accordance with the responsibilities of their employment. Such actions alone cannot constitute an agreement to deprive plaintiffs of their legal rights. In the absence of any allegations of an actual agreement, plaintiffs' claim for civil conspiracy fails as a matter of law.