Animal Rights Front, Inc. v. Jacques case brief

Animal Rights Front, Inc. v. Jacques case brief
869 A.2d 679

CASE SYNOPSIS: In an action seeking a permanent injunction, the Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford (Connecticut), granted a motion to intervene to defendant mortgagee, struck the complaint filed by plaintiff, an environmental nonprofit organization (nonprofit) for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, and granted judgment in favor of defendants, the mortgagee, a developer, and a building inspector. The nonprofit appealed.

FACTS

The nonprofit alleged that the trial court improperly held that Conn. Gen. Stat. § 26-311 of the Connecticut Endangered Species Act (Act), Conn. Gen. Stat. § 26-303 et seq., governed and prevented analysis under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22a-16 of Connecticut Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22a-14 et seq.. The nonprofit also argued that defendants were prevented from undertaking their anticipated development because such was likely to impair or destroy the endangered rattlesnakes inhabiting that parcel. 

DISCUSSION

• The appeals court disagreed. 
• The development of a subdivision was not unlawful. 
• Second, the kind of harm the nonprofit described was not intended, but rather was incidental to the lawful development of the property. 
• The legislature, under the Act, excluded that type of harm from the ambit of the act. 
• Hence, the Act permitted the development of the subdivision that the nonprofit sought to enjoin.

CONCLUSION: The judgment was affirmed.