Thorncreek Apartments III, LLC v. Mick

In successful section 1983, class-of-one equal protection action alleging that defendants-Village and Village officials engaged in campaign of regulatory harassment with respect to three of plaintiff's housing properties, plaintiff was not entitled to new trial on issue of damages, even though plaintiff claimed that Dist. Ct. allowed witness to make impermissible reference to wealth of plaintiff’s owner. Reference to plaintiff’s owner as being in boat in Mediterranean was too insignificant to have effect on jury’s $2 million verdict with respect to one of plaintiff’s three properties, and brief reference to owner’s wealth during closing argument was not objected to at time of reference. Also, record supported $1 nominal damages award with respect to plaintiff’s other two properties, where: (1) jury could believe expert’s testimony that defendant’s alleged conduct in denying plaintiff business license, interfering with business operations and refusing to grant application for conditional use permit had no effect on value of one property; and (2) record showed that other property was not affected by defendant’s conduct. Dist. Ct. also could properly award attorney fees that represented only one-third of what plaintiff had requested, where: (1) jury awarded only nominal damages to two of three of plaintiff’s properties; (2) plaintiff prevailed in only one of several causes of action; and (3) plaintiff received only $2 million out of total $20.5 million sought in all three actions.