The Complaint Driven Process of Building and Land Usage Inspections
Are these processes or action themselves illegal (under County, State or Federal constitution and/or other applicable laws relating to due process and similar)?
Points are:
* No criteria or process at county level for determining validity of complaint. Might the county be setting itself up for liability/legal action by prosecuting a fraudulent or otherwise invalid “complaint”?
* Anonymity of accuser. Is this permissible in civil or criminal court? That the accused not be allowed to know who the accuser is? If not, then how can it be allowable in this context?
* Accused is presumed guilty. This is in direct contradiction to our civil and criminal legal systems where accused is presumed innocent pending attempts to prove guilt.
* No formal procedure to respond to complaints. Again this is not allowed in our civil or criminal legal system. Could this be grounds for a civil lawsuit against the county?
I’m NOT advocating lawsuits against the county pre-emptively.
I’m suggesting that IF such lawsuits would have firm legal ground, the county needs to be aware of this and be aware that by doing what they’re doing WRT their current complaint process, they are putting themselves at risk of such lawsuits.
cheers,
John S.
