In Protect Tustin Ranch v. City of Tustin, 70 Cal. App. 5th 951 (2021), the court of appeal upheld a city’s reliance on the infill development categorical exemption under CEQA for a new gas station in an existing shopping...more
The Court of Appeal held that where a city councilmember’s actions evinced bias toward the project, the applicant did not receive a fair hearing and the City Council’s denial of a conditional use permit would be set aside....more
A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the District Court) in the bankruptcy cases of Sears Holdings Corp. may loom large in a day and age when shopping mall operators...more
In general, a trustee or debtor in possession may assign a lease if it cures any monetary defaults and provides adequate assurance of future performance by the proposed assignee. If the lease is for space in a shopping...more
A recent Fourth District Court of Appeal ruling illustrates how defendants in premises liability cases can posture themselves for success at the summary judgment stage by implementing and complying with comprehensive...more
Foreclosure can often have tricky impacts on lease rights... See Eviction After Foreclosure: California Supreme Court Weighs In and When a Lender Forecloses on a Leasehold Interest…. An opinion recently published by...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed liability under the “know or has reason to know” standard for contributory trademark infringement in Luxottica Group, S.p.A. v. Airport Mini Mall, a case...more
If you asked most commercial landlords what keeps them up at night, they probably wouldn’t say that they worry about their tenants committing trademark infringement. Granted, trademark infringement is not likely to be an...more
It is not uncommon for municipal planning departments to require applicants that are seeking land use approvals involving multiple contiguous parcels to consolidate or merge the properties to form one single larger parcel. ...more
• In Highway 68 Coalition v. County of Monterey, et al., California's Sixth District Court of Appeal endorses the trial court's use of interlocutory remand as a prejudgment tool to allow a lead agency to supplement deficient...more
In an opinion originally filed on July 31, and belatedly ordered partially published on August 24, 2017, the Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition brought by a citizens...more
In a controversial ruling last year in Congel v Malfitano, the Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed and modified in part a post-trial judgment against a former 3.08% partner in a general partnership that owns an...more
Appellate Victory for Developers and Public Agencies - A developer can recover the cost of preparing a California Environmental Quality Act administrative record, even when the lead agency, not the developer, actually...more
In the world of real property taxes, Valuation + Classification = Assessed Valuation. Sounds simple, right? The County Assessor determines the first factor, valuation (subject to certain guidelines under applicable Arizona...more
At its October 27, 2015, meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to create a new dedicated Affordable Housing Program budget unit and approved setting aside $100 million for the creation and operation of both...more
Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions - AC36506 - Sidorova v. East Lyme Board of Education - Due to budget cuts, the Board of Education laid off the plaintiff who was a tenured French teacher. She sued for...more
The California Court of Appeal recently affirmed a retail owner's right to limit expressive activity to areas designated in a written policy. The decision highlights the value of time, place, and manner policies to commercial...more