Civil Procedure › Zoning, Planning & Land Use › Civil Remedies

Temporary Regulatory Takings Do Exist in California!

Given the maze of procedural and substantive hurdles involved, property owners rarely succeed with regulatory takings claims. Even when owners do win, it is yet more uncommon for courts to award damages, instead allowing the...more

Court Upholds Zoning Ordinance That Restricts Location Of Medical Marijuana Collectives And Cooperatives

An owner of a medical marijuana collective challenged a county zoning ordinance that restricts the location of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives to commercial and manufacturing zones. The court of appeals...more

Appellate Notes: Week of April 18th

Welcome to our Supreme and Appellate Court summaries webpage. On this page, I provide abbreviated summaries of decisions from the Connecticut appellate courts which highlight important issues and developments in Connecticut...more

Update on CEQA Reform: Steinberg’s Quest for the “Elusive Middle Ground”

The last year witnessed what once appeared to be a groundswell of support for the “modernization” of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), loosely meaning easing the burden of the process itself and minimizing...more

Divided Supreme Court Upholds Chicago Condo Association Ordinance

Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court filed its long-awaited opinion in Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore Drive Condominium Association. Although on its face, Palm relates only to the enforceability of a Chicago city ordinance on...more

First District Holds CEQA Remedies Provision Allows Park District’s Eminent Domain Action To Proceed Pending Preparation of...

In Golden Gate Land Holdings LLC v. East Bay Regional Park District (4/12/13 1st Dist., Div. 5) _____ Cal.App.4th _____, 2013 WL 1491547, the First District Court of Appeal explored the scope and proper application of CEQA’s...more

Condemn Now, CEQA-Compliance Later? OK. Maybe....

Acquiring property for public projects typically does not occur until after the project has received environmental approval. While this is the generally accepted rule – and it makes sense for a number of reasons – must a...more

The Aransas Project v. Shaw: An Endangered Species Act Decision With Potential Implications for Water Rights

Last month, a federal district court in Texas ruled that state regulators proximately caused an unlawful “take” of listed whooping cranes in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) because the state surface water permit...more

La Mirada Resolves Last Eminent Domain Action for Valley View Underpass Project

According to an article in the Whittier Daily News, La Mirada agrees to pay $1.8 million to settle eminent domain case for new railroad underpass, the City of La Mirada has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle the last...more

Regulatory Takings: Monks v. Rancho Palos Verdes Revisited (Again)

For those of you who have followed Nossaman's blog since the very early days, you'll recall our coverage of a significant regulatory takings case, Monks v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes. The 2008 California decision received...more

Shell E & P Ireland Ltd v McGrath & ors

Judgement in Shell E & P Ireland Ltd v McGrath & ors

2.1 Shell issued proceedings against the six named defendants on the 4th March, 2005 with a statement of claim being delivered on the 18th April. Damages were sought together with various orders restraining the defendants...more

Appellate Court Holds That Regional Water Quality Control Board Approval Of Discharge Permit For Dairies Fails To Satisfy...

In a decision filed on November 6, 2012, the Third District Court of Appeal held that the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Regional Water Board”) failed to comply with the State’s anti-degradation policy...more

Public Entity Litigants Are Entitled to Attorney Fee Award Under Private Attorney General Doctrine Even Where Non Financial...

In City of Maywood v. Los Angeles Unified School District, 2012 DJDAR 9925 (2012), the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District decided a novel attorney fee case. The case arose out of a petition for a...more

Ninth Circuit Dismisses Challenge to Injunction in Delta Smelt Case

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has granted a motion by appellees to dismiss an appeal pursued by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other organizations from an interim order enjoining one...more

Attorney Member of Public Interest Organization Properly Awarded Attorney Fees

In Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions v. City of Healdsburg, 2012 DJDAR 7386 (2012), the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District decided a novel fee recovery case brought under the California...more

Fees Of Attorney With Personal Interest In CEQA Action Are Recoverable Under Private Attorney General Statute

A court of appeal recently concluded that the fees of an attorney who provided legal services but was also a party to a California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) lawsuit could be recovered under the private attorney...more

Parties Must Exhaust Administrative Remedies Before Challenging Even A CEQA Exemption

The California Supreme Court recently reinforced the CEQA requirement that a party must exhaust administrative remedies even where the public agency finds a project exempt from CEQA, if the agency (a) gave notice of the...more

Update on Pa. Municipality Act 13 Lawsuit

As reported in the March edition of The Shale Play Today, seven Pennsylvania municipalities filed suit in the Commonwealth Court on March 29, 2012, challenging the provision of Act 13 providing that state law preempts the...more

Appellate Court Upholds Use of Future CEQA Baseline in Neighbors for Smart Rail and Rejects Sunnyvale Holding

On April 17, 2012, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District issued its opinion in Neighbors for Smart Rail v. Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority holding that in certain circumstances – projected future...more

Bans Upheld In Lower Court

Within a week of each other, two lower courts in New York upheld municipal bans on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling in the Towns of Dryden and Middlefield. These two cases are being closely watched for their precedent...more

Are Florida Right of Way Corridor Preservation Ordinances Unconstitutional? Land Owner Wins First Round in Federal Fight

In Florida land development, how traffic moves through an area is important - and years in advance of any roadway being constructed, there are land planners who work hard to determine where roads (highways, streets, etc.) are...more

Supreme Court Declines to Review or Depublish “CEQA In Reverse” Decision

On March 21, 2012, the California Supreme Court denied a petition for review of the Second District’s published opinion in Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, et al. v. City of Los Angeles (2011) 201 Cal.App.4th 455 (“Ballona...more

Supreme Court Affirms the Right to Judicial Review of EPA Compliance Orders

On March 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a major victory for persons subjected to administrative "compliance orders" of the EPA, which the...more

Supreme Court Expands Right to Challenge Federal Assertions of Clean Water Act Regulatory Jurisdiction

On March 21, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that landowners may bring a civil action under the AdministrativeProcedure Act to challenge administrative compliance orders issued under the Clean Water Act. Sackett v. EPA, __...more

US Supreme Court Rules Property Owners May Sue the EPA Over a Wetlands Restoration Order

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that two Idaho property owners may bring a legal challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) issuance of an administrative order that required the...more