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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

For one of my real estate projects, I have a competing hotelier that has tied me up in court for 6+ years now due to an arcane wording in the town's ordinances distinguishing zoning for "motels" rather than "hotels". The ordinance's wording was amended years ago shortly after the lawsuit was filed (for approving me for a hotel even though it was only zoned for a motel).

Every single person involved knows it's bullshit, every variance and zoning committee meeting has been in my favor, but my competitor is notorious for using the legal system to to keep others tied up long enough in the hopes they bleed enough money to give it up. Or at least enjoys a competitive advantage in the meantime.

So far, that project is 7 figures in the hole.

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I grew up with the notion that we had local government and regional judges precisely to provide a human shortcut to sane decisions when things get crossways in the legal system.

Stupid, naive me.

I suspect this was rhetorical but I'm feeling positive this morning. You're not stupid, many civic ideas I was raised to believe turned out to be folktales.

> Every single person involved knows it's bullshit

In many countries, this is a sure sign that palms need to be greased.

Not in this case. We already had the connected lawyers due to needing various variances. Since the competitor is technically correct in their original lawsuit, remedying it has to go through all the proper channels. At least, I'm not at the level of influence where superior courts can be bypassed.

Even the town hates my competitor, as he's been wasting valuable resources of everyone, but at the end of the day, the ordinance was what it was.

What kind of avenues exist for a competitor to stall committee hearings like that?

For one, the competitor waited until after the town approved all the variances and permits. That process alone took a year.

There also aren't strict schedules with these zoning and permitting decisions, it's a "we'll get to it when we get to it", and if the hearings run late into the evening, and they don't get to your issue, then maybe you have to wait a month or two until they reconvene.

So once the approval was given by the town, the hotelier, who had been watching all along, files a lawsuit against the town and my company, claiming it was granted improperly (which is technically true).

Once that happens, you're now in the thicket of the legal system, and as the saying goes, "the process is the punishment". You win one battle, competitor appeals (waiting for the last day to file the appeal each time), you win that one, competitor appeals again. Your lawyer makes a mistake, go back to square 1. And months go by between decisions. Meanwhile, you're paying property taxes and legal fees like nobody's business.

That sounds absurd and so wasteful.

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