Sailak, LLC v. Forsyth County, Georgia (N.D. Ga.)

On March 25, 2020, the district court denied the County’s Motion for Summary Judgment in Sailak, LLC and Sumaltha Satoor v. Forsyth County (N.D. Ga.).  The case involves claims that the County substantially burdened the Plaintiffs’ religious exercise and discriminated against them in violation of RLUIPA when it denied them a conditional use permit to develop a Hindu temple on their property.  After Plaintiffs filed their complaint, the County moved to have the complaint dismissed, arguing that Plaintiffs lacked standing in that private restrictions on the Plaintiffs’ land barred them from challenging the denial of the permit under RLUIPA. The Division filed a Statement of Interest on January 27, 2020, arguing that the Plaintiffs’ RLUIPA’s claims should proceed because the court can remedy the alleged harm by the County.  The court held that Plaintiffs have standing to bring their RLUIPA claims because if the Plaintiffs were successful on their RLUIPA claims, they would be entitled to the CUP they were improperly denied and that it was “undisputed” that the County has never had the power to enforce the private restrictions.  The court also ordered the parties to continue with discovery on merits of Plaintiffs’ RLUIPA claims