Property Rights

We all know that the Fifth Amendment protects our right to use and enjoy our property. But, that doesn't stop government regulators from trying to find innovative ways to get around the Fifth Amendment. In recent years land use planners have begun experimenting with "transferable development rights" as a way to avoid liability under the Fifth Amen ...

Yesterday, PLF scored a win in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Barnum Timber Co. v. EPA.  Pacific Legal Foundation represents Barnum Timber, a small, family-run timber company based in Humboldt County, California. Redwood Creek, which runs through Barnum's timberlands, has been designated by EPA as an impaired waterbody under Section 303( ...

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance" is generally ascribed to Thomas Jefferson.  Given Jefferson's love for freedom, it's an apt attribution.  But it has been reported that John Philpot Curran expressed this same sentiment in a speech upon the Right of Election in 1790 (published in a book titled "Speeches on the late very interesting Stat ...

Or so says the United States Army Corps of Engineers about the pictured property.  Can you see the water on this property?  We can't, which is why we are taking the Corps to court in our newest lawsuit, Smith v. U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Here's the story: PLF clients Peter and Frankie Smith bought 20 acres of property south of Santa Fe, ...

Last last month, after more than a decade of litigation, we were able to settle amicably our lawsuit on behalf of Barnum Timber Co. against the EPA over the agency's designation of Redwood Creek as an impaired water under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Interesting in that, also last month, the District Court for the District of Columbia ...

caption id="attachment_33408" align="alignright" width="300" Robert and Anita Breinig/caption If you've ever bought a house or piece of land, you probably paid for a title search and title insurance.  A title search makes sure that the seller actually owns the property, free from any undisclosed liens or other third-party interests. Title insur ...

This week, Florida's Martin County Commission accepted settlement terms that leave our clients, Bob and Anita Breinig, no longer facing onerous fines and the imminent loss of their dream: their popular Flash Beach Grille restaurant in Hobe Sound. Instead, the Breinigs find themselves with their property rights intact, and they stand ready to ex ...

The Pacific Legal Foundation and the Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom (CLF)* together filed an amicus brief in an important takings case in the North Carolina Supreme Court today. The facts of the case are straightforward, as we explain in our brief: The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) created "transportation cor ...

In 1975, California enacted the Agricultural Labor Relations Act principally to govern relations between the United Farm Workers union and agricultural employers. While the Union and their interests had lobbied for a provision in the Act allowing labor organizers to access private employer property to solicit worker support, the legislature did not ...