In affirming the lower court’s decision, the Supreme Court of Georgia found that the respondent sign companies indeed had vested rights and were therefore allowed to construct billboards in the disputed areas. Between May 2003 and November 2006 the sign companies submitted completed applications to Fulton County for permits to build billboards throughout the county. Fulton County denied the permits citing a county ordinance that prohibited signs, including billboards. While a lawsuit on the issue was pending, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in another case that the Fulton County ordinance banning signs was unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Also while the lawsuit was pending, the areas in dispute became four newly created cities. Immediately following that decision the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the sign companies finding that they had vested rights, an appeal from Fulton County and the cities followed.
The Supreme Court of Georgia stated that since the Fulton County ordinance was unconstitutional, the sign companies’ right to construct the billboards vested when they filed the applications between 2003 and 2006. The Supreme Court of Georgia also found that the county and cities’ argument that the rights had not vested because there were no signed leasehold interests lacked merit. Just because the sign companies did not have any current billboards on display did not stop them from having vested rights. In their appeal Fulton County and the cities also made the argument that the sign companies did not have vested rights because of a state law passed in 2008 that prohibited a county from issuing backdated permits to areas that are no longer within their jurisdiction. However, as the court pointed out, the rights of the sign companies were vested by 2006 and therefore any new laws after that date do not apply. Finally, the appellants claimed that the vested rights of the sign companies did not survive the creation of the new cities and the change of jurisdiction over the property. The Supreme Court of Georgia quickly refuted that claim by stating that when an applicant’s rights vest before the creation of the new entity, the new entity cannot enforce its regulations to deprive the applicant of his already vested rights.
Fulton County v. Action Outdoor Advertising, 2011 WL 2305974 (Ga. 6/13/2011)
The opinion can be accessed here
