Supreme Court case involves
radio amateur - but not amateur antennas
The US Supreme Court this week agreed to hear a case that
involves ARRL Life Member Mark J. Abrams, WA6DPB, of Rancho Palos Verdes,
California.
While the case does not involve Amateur Radio antennas,
it got started several years ago when Abrams began diplexing his commercial
Land Mobile Radio Service facilities into his Amateur Radio repeater antennas--something
the city said he needed an additional permit to do.
The city years earlier had okayed the 45-foot Amateur Radio antenna support
structure at Abrams' residence, and its legality was never in question.
The city denied him a
conditional use permit for the commercial application, but the California
Supreme Court eventually ruled that Abrams didn't need one anyway.
In the meantime, Abrams filed suit in US District Court
asserting the denial of the conditional use permit violated the Telecommunications
Act of 1996. Again, Abrams prevailed, but the District Court denied Abrams
monetary
damages and attorneys' fees. The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
reversed the US District Court, but the 3rd and 7th Circuits ruled otherwise.
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes then took the case to the
US Supreme Court on the issue of damages and attorneys' fees, and the
high court agreed to hear the case because of the disparity in findings
at the Circuit Court level.
Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The
American Radio Relay League
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