In Colorado Springs Fellowship Church v. City of Colorado Springs, (D CO, Feb. 4, 2022), a Colorado federal district court dismissed RLUIPA as well as 1st and 14th Amendment claims against the city and various law enforcement officials brought by a church and eight of its parishioners. The church leased an apartment that was to be for the use of members who were in need of housing but could not afford to rent a habitable dwelling. Amisha and Nicholas Gainer were identified as occupants of the Apartment in the lease. The church found that the Gainers had been acting in violation of the lease. Instead of following a formal eviction route, church members merely showed up at the apartment to move the Gainers out. The Gainers threatened the parishioners with a gun and baseball bat. The parishioners then retreated and called the police. When the police arrived, they arrested the parishioners, who now are suing. Dismissing plaintiffs' RLUIPA claim, the court said in part:
Defendants argue ... that their conduct ... has no relation to land use regulations and consequently does not fall within the scope of the statute.... Plaintiffs argue that the actions of the DAO and the CSPD were premised on the Plaintiffs’ failure to secure an eviction proceeding within the land use laws of the City..... Further, Plaintiffs argue that “leasing [the Apartment] (and all actions attendant thereto) were as much a part of its religious actions as a Sunday Service.”...
The Court finds that the Plaintiffs’ allegations do not implicate any land use regulations, as defined by the statute.
