By William W. Abbott

Fraternity defeats City injunction request by reorganizing as a religious order.

In a surprising turn of events for City officials, the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, the single largest source of noise complaints in the City of Fresno, reorganized itself as a religious order last February. This conversion came about as a result of City officials filing a nuisance complaint and seeking a preliminary injunction. The fraternity quickly reorganized itself as a religious brotherhood, albeit one with unconventional practices. At the hearing on the preliminary injunction, the trial court judge, the Honorable Douglas Neidermeyer, expressed sympathy for the City’s concerns. However, the judge declined the City’s preliminary injunction request, ruling that under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the City was not likely to succeed on the merits. The judge’s order stated: “The law requires this court to have an open mind as to what constitutes bona fide religious practices. As the defendants have demonstrated in their opposition papers, the wilder side of Lutherans and the Amish, while not well known, are nevertheless well documented. This court cannot discriminate in favor of established more popular religions over those that are not.” Trial is set in August while the students are on summer break.Continue Reading Local Government Land Use News Update