Thompson

ORDER

Plaintiff, Earl J. Thompson, filed this action against the City of Shasta Lake (“City”) and various city officials pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , alleging that they violated his rights protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The matter is before the court on defendants’ motion to dismiss, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and, in the alternative, for a more definite statement. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e). I decide the motions on the papers filed herein and after oral argument.

I.

GENERAL ALLEGATIONS

Plaintiff is a partner of Mid-State Properties, a housing development company. Compl. at 2. He asserts that the defendants engaged in a pattern of behavior designed to harass him and interfere with his projects in the City of Shasta Lake.

According to plaintiff, the harassment began in August of 2001, when, while working on a construction project, defendant Thompson, the City’s Planning Director, and defendant Wood, a Code Enforcement employee, fined plaintiff $4,000 for cutting down several trees in violation of a City ordinance. They also suspended his building permits. Id. After appealing the violation to both the Planning Commission and…