Articles

Drones and property rights

April 29, 2016 | By RAYMOND NHAN

As recreational drone use expands, hobbyists won’t be the only ones who are flying them. Reports suggest that law enforcement officials are considering adding drones to their tool kit. According to these reports, drones will give law enforcement a bird’s-eye view of major car crashes, active wildfires, and wreckage created by tornadoes ...

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President's weekly report, April 29, 2016

April 29, 2016 | By ROB RIVETT

Seattle trashed!  We had  this resounding trial court victory in Bonesteel v. City of Seattle, our challenge to Seattle’s trash-snooping law. In a city where political correctness trumps individual rights, the city passed an ordinance that not only requires Seattlelites to compost their food waste, but required its trash collectors to inspe ...

Articles

Can government discriminate against a church, just because it is a church?

April 29, 2016 | By MERIEM L. HUBBARD

Does the exclusion of churches from an otherwise neutral and secular aid program violate the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution? That is the question the Supreme Court will answer in the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley. Trinity Lutheran Church operates a daycare which includes a playground  ...

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Judge suggests Martin County Commission refused to follow law

April 29, 2016 | By MARK MILLER

Yesterday, the trial court in Martin County, Florida, let the infamous, anti-property-rights Martin County Commission members know that they can’t hide public emails behind private email addresses and think they will get away with it. One of those commission members—a former judge, of all things—failed to turn over emails regarding public ...

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PLF attorney Wen Fa talks agricultural issues on Andy Caldwell

April 28, 2016 | By WENCONG FA

Please tune in at 4:30 p.m. (PDT) this afternoon to hear Andy Caldwell and me discuss two current lawsuits with huge ramifications for agricultural businesses and the rule of law.   … ...

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PLF clients win in settlement with Tahoe agency

April 28, 2016 | By CHRIS KIESER

PLF clients Ray Burns and Teresa Avila-Burns just wanted to build a small house on their vacant lot in South Lake Tahoe so that their elderly mothers could enjoy the high quality of life in the Lake Tahoe area. But the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) said the parcel the Burns had purchased was entirely … ...

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Second Circuit extends New York's 154-year-old streak of discrimination against out-of-state lawyers

April 28, 2016 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Last Friday, the Second Circuit upheld a longstanding New York requirement that out-of-state attorneys must maintain a physical office in the state to practice New York law–a requirement not imposed on attorneys who reside within the Empire state. … ...

Articles

Victory : Judge throws out garbage snooping law

April 27, 2016 | By ETHAN BLEVINS

Today, Judge Beth Andrus ruled that Seattle cannot hunt through its residents’ garbage in search of prohibited food waste. Our lawsuit, Bonesteel v. City of Seattle, challenged a Seattle law that says garbage collectors must search through trash cans along their routes each week to determine whether more than ten percent of the volume of yo ...

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New data on occupational licensing confirms existence of rent-seeking incentives

April 27, 2016 | By CALEB TROTTER

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released new data that shows workers with an occupational license or certification tend to earn higher wages than those without a license or certification. That shouldn’t be all that surprising since one of the main, stated purposes of getting a license is for those workers to have greater qual ...