PLF sues Coastal Commission for extortion attempt against family

October 12, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Paul Beard II

On Friday, PLF attorneys filed a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission—the State's worst abuser of property rights and of landowners who live and work in the State's coastal zone. 

The case centers on the Commission's attempt to take a substantial public access easement from a family who simply wants to repair a home and a barn on coastal land in San Luis Obispo, California.  Occurring entirely within the structures' existing footprints, the repair work would have no effect on existing public access, rendering the Commission's easement demand unjustified—and unconstitutional.  When the United States Supreme Court slapped down the Commission for a similar attempt in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (argued by PLF in 1987), the Court characterized the Commission's demand as an "out-and-out plan of extortion."  Better words could not describe the Commission's extortionate demand in this new case.

Yesterday, PLF and members of the family gave a press conference to announce the suit. Local NBC and CBS affiliates KSBY and KCOY provided excellent coverage of PLF's newest legal challenge against the Commission: