Village residents and state brought two related actions against village, mayor, and board of trustees, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief predicated on village’s use of alleged dedicated parkland for non-park purposes without legislative approval, in violation of the public trust doctrine.
The Court of Appeals held that:
- The causes of action challenging village’s proposed Department of Public Works (DPW) project were not barred by the statute of limitations;
- The “continuing wrong doctrine” applied to toll the running of the statute of limitations with respect to plaintiffs’ cause of action seeking to enjoin village’s present non-park use of portion of parkland;
- Laches could not bar state’s cause of action; and
- Laches has no application when plaintiffs allege a continuing wrong.