Adam Community Center v. City of Troy (E.D. Mich.)

On November 15, 2022, the United States filed a statement of interest related to damages briefing in Adam Community Center v. City of Troy, Michigan, et al (E.D. Mich.), the private companion case to United States v. City of Troy, Michigan (E.D. Mich.). The statement of interest explains that damages may be available to private litigants pursuing land use claims against municipal defendants under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA”). The damages briefing followed the Court’s orders in both lawsuits finding that Troy violated RLUIPA by (1) imposing an unjustified substantial burden on Adam Community Center’s exercise of religion in its effort to operate a mosque and (2) requiring places of worship to abide by more onerous zoning restrictions than places of nonreligious assembly.