Ro Cher Enterprises, Inc. v. EPA
EPA’s in-house tribunal undermines fairness and political accountability
Roger and Cheryl Janakus opened their Door & Window Superstore in 1983, selling doors and windows from their Chicago-area retail store and showroom. Under the careful leadership of the husband-wife team, the small business has earned a sterling record and many repeat customers.Nevertheless, the EPA is pursuing the Janakuses with claims that stretch ...
Jake’s Fireworks, Inc. v. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Family fireworks business sparks legal battle to open federal courts for regulatory challenges
Agencies' bullying people into action through informal threats are unfortunately all-too-common due process failures within government agencies. They're also unconstitutional. A unanimous Supreme Court said in PLF's wins in Sackett I and again in Hawkes that government agencies can't issue determinations that spell out punishment and then claim suc ...
Leachco, Inc. v. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Small family business battles arbitrary prosecution for baby pillow
Jamie Leach is a self-described "Innovationer™" who, after a close call with her seven-month-old son, leveraged her experience as a registered nurse and mom to start Leachco, Inc., a small, family-owned business based in Ada, Oklahoma, that's determined to make the world safer for babies. ...
CFPB v. Townstone
Small lending firm fights the CFPB’s illegal power grab and racial equity agenda
District Court dismissed the CFPB's case because it lacked authority to adopt Regulation B, the provision it claims Townstone violated. The appeal at Seventh Circuit is pending. ...
Stephanie Heigel-Tibbitts v. California Coastal Commission
Couple fights unlawful Coastal Commission limbo to build wheelchair-friendly home
PLF has challenged CCC actions for decades and has several lawsuits in progress, and with PLF's help, the Tibbittses fought back. Here, PLF filed a lawsuit and asked the state court simply to force the CCC to hold a hearing to make a decision on the permit. Just prompting a hearing will set a precedent for coastal property owners to defend their du ...
TWISM Enterprises, LLC v. State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors
Supreme Court of Ohio rules that judges are not required to defer to agency interpretations of statute.
An estimated 45% of small businesses don't make it past five years. Shawn Alexander's passion to run his own engineering firm outweighed any concerns over those odds, and in 2016, he started TWISM Enterprises, LLC, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Two years after launching his business, the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyor ...
Humbyrd v. Raimondo
Illegally formed federal agency threatens livelihoods of Alaska fishermen
Like many of his fellow longtime fishermen, Wes Humbyrd draws his catch—and his livelihood—from Cook Inlet. A regulation proposed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, however, will permanently close the inlet's federal waters to commercial salmon fishing, not because of overfishing but because the council deemed it too hard to coord ...
Goodwood Brewing Company, LLC v. Beshear
Kentucky restaurants challenging Governor Beshear’s never-ending emergency powers
Since the pandemic began a year ago, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has used his emergency powers to unilaterally enact COVID-19-related policies. In February, the legislature overwhelmingly voted to rein in his authority, passing three bills to limit the governor's use of pandemic-related emergency orders. Gov. Beshear immediately filed suit, clai ...
Christensen v. California Judicial Council
Fighting for property rights against California Judicial Council’s eviction ban
Eviction is a critical tool for landlords to manage their property by removing tenants who refuse to pay rent or create nuisances and safety hazards. The process allows landlords to remove tenants who deliberately withhold rent or damage property, so that they can aid tenants experiencing hardship and offer housing to good renters—a particularl ...