Justia U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

St. Charles Tower, Inc. (St. Charles) filed suit against defendants after they declined to issue St. Charles a conditional use permit necessary to construct a proposed cell-phone tower in Franklin County. After the district court entered a consent judgment, trustees of a homeowner's association that opposed construction of the tower (Intervenors) sought to intervene in the litigation in order to challenge the consent judgment on the grounds that it violated state law. The district court granted their motion to intervene but denied their motion to alter, amend, or vacate the consent judgment and intervenors appealed. The court held that the consent judgment impermissibly circumvented sections 32 and 81 of the Land Use Regulations. Therefore, the court held that the district court erred in holding that the consent judgment did not violate state law and that any violation was justified as a necessary remedy for a violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B)(v). Accordingly, the court reversed the denial of intervenors' motion and remanded for further proceedings.

Debtor appealed from an order of the bankruptcy court sustaining creditor's objection to her claim of a homestead exemption as to the bank's claim. Debtor used the proceeds from the sale of her Cerromar property to build the Pleasant Hill property, in which she asserted a homestead exemption. At issue was whether the bankruptcy court properly sustained the bank's objection to debtor's homestead exemption. The court held that creditor established that its debt was incurred before debtor acquired the Pleasant Hill property, which meant the property would not be exempt from creditor's judgment and that the Cerromar property was not legally debtor's homestead and she could not avail herself to the protection of Iowa Code 561.20. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment because the bankruptcy court properly sustained creditor's objection to debtor's claim of homestead exemption as to creditor's preexisting debts.