An operator of a Wilmington home for disabled persons may not challenge the city’s condemnation of the house in the Delaware Court of Chancery because he did not pursue administrative remedies before initiating litigation, the court ruled. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claims on jurisdictional grounds because he did not appeal the alleged housing violations to the Wilmington Department of Licenses and Inspections before he filed a lawsuit.
“The administrative remedy available to [the plaintiff] as to the noticed violations was an appeal to the L&I review board,” said Vice Chancellor Donald F. Parsons Jr. in Walker v. City of Wilmington. “Plaintiff’s decision to bypass the administrative review process, however, deprives the court of information on which it could base a determination that the available review process is inadequate.”
