Articles

Another PLF win in the Supreme Court This week, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously (8–0 with Justice Kavanaugh not participating) in favor of PLF client Edward Poitevent and his family in Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In a factual sense, the decision concerns whether the endangered dusky gopher frog’s “critical ha ...

In Fleck v. Wetch, North Dakota lawyer Arnold Fleck seeks to be free from his forced association with the State Bar Association of North Dakota. After considering his petition for writ of certiorari at eight consecutive conferences, the Supreme Court today granted the petition, vacated the decision below, and remanded for reconsideration in light o ...

Originally published by The Advocate, December 3, 2018. The Advocate’s Nov. 28 analysis of the recent unanimous Supreme Court decision in the St. Tammany Parrish private property rights dispute comes close but misses the mark. The editors, unfortunately, put the emphasis on a frog that does not even live in Louisiana while failing to properly ...

Forty years ago, in Penn Central Transp.  Co. v. City of New York (1978), the U.S. Supreme Court explained that regulatory takings cases are “essentially ad hoc, factual inquiries” wherein courts are instructed to consider a number of case specific factors, including “the economic impact of the regulation on the claimant;” ...

Originally published by the Daily Journal, December 4, 2018. Could last summer’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME (2018 DJDAR 6308), forbidding states from allowing unions to garnish wages of nonmember employees without their affirmative consent, sound the death knell of the integrated bar? That’s exactly what North Dakota lawyer Arnold Fl ...

Originally published in The Daily Caller, December 5, 2018. In 2013, Uri Rafaeli learned that he underpaid the 2011 property tax bill on his modest home in a Detroit suburb. He attempted to pay the difference but miscalculated the interest due, unknowingly paying it $8.41 short. What came next was a shock: Oakland County seized … ...

PLF filed a fresh lawsuit today on the heels of our latest Supreme Court victory. Last week, in Weyerhaeuser v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, a unanimous Supreme Court reaffirmed that agencies are not immune from judicial review of their actions. This wasn’t just a win for PLF and our clients: it was also … ...

Originally published by The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2018. How Michigan misuses a procedure meant to target pirate ships and drug lords’ mansions. Uri Rafaeli is an 83-year-old engineer and great-grandfather. He never expected the government to treat him like a drug dealer or gang banger. But last year the Michigan Court of Appeals & ...

Judicial review essential to hold federal agencies accountable On December 7, PLF filed a complaint on behalf of New Mexico ranchers in Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association v. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This new lawsuit comes on the heels of our latest Supreme Court victory last week in Weyerhaeuser v. United States Fish and R ...