Constitutional Law › Commercial Law & Contracts › Zoning, Planning & Land Use

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

New Floodplain Ordinance Targets Oil and Gas Operations

The County Commission in Doddridge County, West Virginia is currently considering amendments to its Floodplain Ordinance as a result of a December 17, 2012 decision by the Circuit Court of Doddridge County. (Comments to the...more

The Alaska Constitution and Alaska Oil and Gas Projects

In the March 29th decision of Sullivan v. Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), the Supreme Court of Alaska held that the Alaska Constitution requires only one “best interest finding” (that an oil...more

Appellate Notes: Week of March 18, 2013

In This Issue: - SC18921- Redding Life Care, Inc. v. Redding - SC18846- Bauer v. Bauer - SC18947- State v. Charlotte Hungerford Hospital - AC34075- Carrillo v. Goldberg - AC33764- Alarmax...more

Paper Carryout Bag Charge Is Not A Tax

Taxpayers and a manufacturer of plastic bags challenged a county ordinance that prohibits retail stores from providing customers with plastic carryout bags and requires the stores to charge their customers ten cents for each...more

The Founding of Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert (1963-2013)

Founded in Honolulu in 1963 by Frank Damon, a Hawai‘i-born descendant of missionaries from New England, and Henry Shigekane, the son of Japanese immigrants, Damon & Shigekane pioneered new territory by crossing ethnic lines —...more

Redevelopment: Rising From The Ashes Or Final Death Rattle?

Two cases filed in Sacramento County, City of Cerritos v. State of California and Syncora Guarantee Inc. v. State of California, have challenged the constitutionality of AB 1X 26, the 2011 bill that provided for the...more

Gaming Legal News: April 6, 2012 • Volume 5, Number 7: Unnamed Developers Seek Constitutional Amendment For Eight New Casinos In...

A group of unnamed developers operating under the title “Citizens for More Michigan Jobs” obtained approval from the Michigan Board of State Canvassers on April 3, 2012, as to the form of a petition to amend Michigan’s...more

Redevelopment Law Unconstitutional Because of Impairment of Contract?

Largely lost in the noise and furor surrounding the decision by the California Supreme Court upholding AB 1X 26 (California Redevelopment Association v. Matosantos (2011) 53 Cal.4th 231, which terminated the functions of...more

Marzulla Law Legal Report - November 2011

In This Issue: - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - Efforts to Settle One Case Lead to Another The U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently found the federal government liable for breach of contract under which, in...more

Marzulla Law Legal Report - September 2011

In This Issue: - Court Upholds Landowner's Contract-Based Mineral Rights In the Elmore/Road Rock, Inc. v. Florida Power & Light breach of contract case, Judge Robert A. Rosenberg of the Complex Litigation Unit of...more

•Stewart & Jasper Orchards v. Salazer

Brief Of Amici Curiae Center For Constitutional Jurisprudence And The CATO Institute In Support Of Petitioners

The federal government is currently engaged in a misguided attempt to use a noneconomic statute — the Endangered Species Act — to regulate under its Commerce Clause authority a noneconomic activity, the potential "take" of...more

Proposed Repeal Of California Enterprise Zone Benefits Would Violate The Contracts And Due Process Clauses Of The California And...

Communities to Save Enterprise Zones has asked Reed Smith to articulate the legal case against Governor Brown's proposal to repeal the benefits associated with California's Enterprise Zone Program, including elimination of...more

Marzulla Law Legal Report - May 25, 2011

In This Issue: - Federal Circuit Upholds Reclamation Contract Rights Against Government Demands To Reallocate Water On March 18, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision with...more

Research Memorandum: Eminent Domain & Contract for Deed - Who should the government pay?

This is a memo I prepared after researching an eminent domain case in which the State of Texas was taking certain property and paying for it. The problem was that the State didn’t know who to pay. My client had purchased the...more

San Francisco Distinction Between Drugstores and Supermarkets Goes Up In Smoke

Walgreen Co. prevailed against the City and County of San Francisco in California court and can proceed with its challenge to San Francisco’s ordinance banning the sale of tobacco products at certain retail establishments...more

Township “Flat Tax” on Business Upheld

The Commonwealth Court, in an unreported opinion, has affirmed a decision of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, which held that a business privilege “flat tax” ordinance passed by Warrington Township did not violate...more