Administrative Law › Civil Procedure › Commercial Real Estate

California Supreme Court Permits Picketing on Private Property

In a split decision, the California Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of two statutes that restrict state court injunctions against picketing by labor unions on private property. Ralphs Grocery Co. v. United Food...more

Virginia Supreme Court Opinion Affecting Local Government Law, January 10, 2013

Today, the Virginia Supreme Court issued one opinion affecting Virginia local government law. Congratulations to the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville! The Local Government Attorneys of Virginia supplied an...more

Eminent Domain Opinions Focus On 'Just Compensation'

Originally Published in Daily Journal, January 4, 2013 It has been quite a busy year for takings cases, and the state Court of Appeal provided one last published eminent domain opinion just before 2012 came to a close....more

Legal Alert: California Supreme Court Reverses Court Of Appeal; Declares State Labor Picketing Laws Constitutional In 6-1 Decision...

In a case that will significantly strengthen labor's hand regarding picketing activities in the state, the California Supreme Court reversed a Court of Appeals decision that had declared unconstitutional two state laws...more

Repeated Seasonal Flooding Of Forest Land Authorized By Government May Qualify As A Taking of Property

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorized repeated seasonal flooding that damaged trees on forest land owned by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The question before the United States Supreme Court was “whether a...more

Statute of Limitations Doesn’t Apply in UConn Law Library Lawsuit, State Supreme Court Rules

The Connecticut Supreme Court recently reversed, in a unanimous published opinion, a trial court's entry of summary judgment in favor of 27 defendants involved in the allegedly defective design and construction of the...more

NH Supreme Court Rules That State Law Preempts Municipal Restrictions on Excavation Permitting

On November 9, 2012, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued its decision in Town of Carroll v. Rines (“Rines”), invalidating certain municipal regulations that limited excavations....more

Connecticut Supreme Court Reaffirms State's Immunity from Statutes of Limitation

In a decision followed closely by the construction industry, Connecticut's Supreme Court has issued a unanimous decision confirming a long-standing rule that statutes of limitations do not run against the State. The...more

EIR Satisfies CEQA Despite Minor Deficiencies and Inaccuracies Where Environmental Review Process Not Prejudiced, Third District...

A unanimous Third District panel upheld SiskiyouCounty’s EIR for Roseburg Forest Products Co.’s (Roseburg) electricity cogeneration project involving expansion of its existing wood veneer manufacturing facility. (Mount Shasta...more

Further Confirmation Notice of Exemption Filed Before Project Approval is Void

Coalition for Clean Air v. City of Visalia (Oct. 4, 2012, No. F062983M)- The partially published opinion in Coalition for Clean Air v. City of Visalia brightened the line regarding when a California Environmental Quality...more

Prematurely Filed Notice Of Exemption Does Not Trigger 35-Day Limitations Period In CEQA Actions

A court of appeal recently concluded that a notice of exemption filed before a project is actually approved is invalid and does not trigger the 35-day limitations period in which to bring a California Environmental Quality...more

When Adopting a Resolution of Necessity, Can Failing to Consider a Substitute Condemnation Constitute a Gross Abuse of Discretion?

While most lawsuits typically start with the filing of a complaint, eminent domain cases really start one key step earlier, with the condemning agency’s adoption of a Resolution of Necessity. The Resolution establishes (i)...more

Horne v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

Brief for the CATO Institute, et al., as Amici Curiae in Support of the Petitioner for Certiorari

Property owners should not be made to suffer a needless, Rube Goldberg-style litigation process to vindicate their constitutional rights. Yet that is exactly what the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks to impose on...more

Inadmissible Property Valuation Evidence Could Not Be Used To Impeach Expert During Eminent Domain Proceeding

A court of appeal recently held that inadmissible evidence could not be used during cross- examination to impeach an expert in an eminent domain proceeding. The court concluded that prior case law did not create a...more

Appeals Court Reaffirms That Non-Prejudicial Planning And Zoning Code And CEQA Errors Cannot Serve As Basis For Overturning City...

On July 31, 2012, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District held that the trial court erred in invalidating the City of Rialto’s (the “City”) approval of a 230,000 square foot commercial retail center to be...more

Impacts On Required Public Services Not An Environmental Impact; No Mitigation Required

The Court of Appeal held that potential adverse impacts on required public services are not environmental impacts under CEQA requiring mitigation by the project proponent. This is contrary to the practice in many...more

Court Invalidates NJDEP Cleanup Rule For De Minimus Quantity Exemptions

On July 6, 2012, the New Jersey Appellate Division, in the case of Des Champs Laboratories, Inc. v. NJDEP, invalidated the NJDEP’s regulation requiring an owner or operator of an industrial establishment to certify that their...more

Supreme Court decides Match-E-be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak

On June 18, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Match-E-be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak, permitting an individual who owns land near a tribal casino in Michigan to challenge...more

Gaming Legal News - June 29 2012 • Volume 5, Number 16: The Gun Lake Decision: What Does It Mean For Indian Gaming?

By this time, everyone with an interest in gaming, is aware of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision rendered in the case of Match-EBe-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak. The Tribe is commonly known as the...more

Texas Supreme Court Holds That an Electric Company Can Condemn Public Property Over Governmental Immunity Objection

The Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion on Friday, June 22,2012, in Oncor Electric Delivery Company, LLC v. Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Fort Worth Transportation Authority (Cause No. 11-0079)— holding that a recent change...more

Gaming Legal News - June 21, 2012 • Volume 5, Number 15

In This Issue: - BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! Supreme Court Allows Challenge to Gun Lake Tribal Casino to Proceed Forward: On Monday, June 18, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in the closely watched...more

Supreme Court Decision May Make it Easier to Challenge IRA Land-Into-Trust Acquisitions

On Monday, June 18, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak, 567 U.S. ___ (2012), which could dramatically impact the tribal land-into-trust...more

Fee Split Required for RESPA Violation, U.S. Supreme Court Rules

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that to establish a violation of Section 8(b) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), a plaintiff must show that a charge for a real estate settlement...more

Court Upholds Non-Employee Property Access Rights

In a decision affirming the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that employees of a contractor working for a contract restaurant operator located in another...more

McAfee & Taft RegLINC - April 2012: Storage tanks By Chris Paul

Owners of land on which petroleum underground storage tanks are located are responsible for the cleanup of gasoline released (In re Huntington and Kildare Inc. v. Grannis, N. Y. App. Div., No. 512100, 11/3/11). Huntington and...more