Kansas City partner Steve Coronado and associate Kevin Miller successfully defended a local municipality in a Missouri Administrative Procedures Act Claim, obtaining a judgment in the municipality’s favor on all claims. The claimants sought to challenge the determination of a building official who had provided a notice of intent to demolish the claimants’ building after 1) the building had been classified as a dangerous building and 2) the claimants did not timely repair the building. The claimants alleged the building official’s decision to demolish the building was unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious.
Following a one-day bench trial, the court found the claimants had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies—one theory of defense set forth by the Baty Otto Coronado team. The court found it lacked authority to make any determination on the claims set out by the claimants due to administrative remedies not being exhausted. Because it did not have authority to decide the merits of the claimants’ assertions, the court dismissed the petition.