In 2022, sisters Heather Kratt and Holly Manzano bought a dilapidated, vacant lot in Petaluma, California. The entrepreneurs planned to transform it into a community gathering space and marketplace with craft vendors and food trucks, including their own business, the Sausage Slingers of the Northwest.
Before the sisters bought the lot, Heather discussed their plans with Petaluma City employees, who encouraged her to apply for a standard permit. But after their purchase, the City’s third-party planning contractor repeatedly denied the permit.
Heather and Holly challenged the City’s arbitrary denials and eventually secured a 60-day permit allowing them to operate a farmers’ market with craft vendors and food trucks. But it came with a significant caveat—they would need to rent their neighbor’s property for any parking and driving needs, because the City’s attorney believed there was a complete “prohibition against parking or circulating vehicles” on their parking lot.
Heather and Holly filed a lawsuit, arguing that the City had violated their Fifth Amendment rights by stripping their property of its use without paying any compensation for that taking. But the City claimed that the sisters couldn’t sue until they had first pursued every conceivable administrative solution to the permit denials.
After a lower court sided with the City, Heather and Holly filed an appeal before California’s First Appellate District. Represented at no cost by Pacific Legal Foundation and Kristen Renfro of Desmond, Manning, Livaich & Cunningham, their appeal argues that cities cannot use legal gamesmanship to prevent their residents from accessing the courtroom and seeking justice. Key Supreme Court precedent affirms the sisters’ right to vindicate their violated rights in court without first exhausting every administrative appeal—despite the City of Petaluma’s arguments to the contrary. If their case is successful, it will reinforce protections for Californians’ right to stand up against government abuse.
Photography by Rick Wenner.
What’s At Stake?
- You have the right to sue the government for violating your constitutional rights. The government cannot use legal gamesmanship to prevent you from accessing a court to seek justice. It also can’t claim you have to exhaust every conceivable administrative appeal before you can file a lawsuit in an independent court.
- When the government eliminates all potential uses of your property, the Constitution demands it pay you just compensation for that taking.
Case Timeline
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