Summerfield Housing Ltd. Partnership v. United States

No. 99-5033 (Fed. Cir. December 3, 1999)

ELR Digest

The court holds that a developer that leased housing to the U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) must pay an annual solid waste service charge (SWSC) assessed by a Maryland county where the housing is located. The court first holds that the developer is the proper party to pay the SWSC. The developer acknowledges that the SWSC is properly classified as a special assessment under state law. Further, the terms of the lease do not supersede state law even though in response to a pre-lease bid question by the developer, the government described special assessments as generally one-time assessments for development. The government's response did not limit the definition of special assessments, it merely described the characteristics that special assessments generally have. Therefore, since the lease requires the developer to pay special assessments, the developer must pay the SWSC. The court next holds that the case at bar differs from the precedent offered by the developer. In this case, the enactment of the SWSC and the Navy's refusal to pay did not result in the transfer of a contractual obligation from the Navy to the developer.

The full text of this decision is available from ELR (6 pp., ELR Order No. L-138).

[Counsel not available at this printing.]

[30 ELR 20220]

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]