Articles

Author: Daniel Himebaugh Legislators in Oregon have proposed a new bill that would require the state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) and Court of Appeals to award attorney fees to land use applicants who prevail in appealing a government land use decision.  Currently, such awards are discretionary and depend on factors like whether the losin ...

Earlier today, the California Supreme Court denied review of the case Vargas v. City of Salinas, which sought review of an outrageous, ruinous award of over $250,000 in attorneys' fees against two individuals who brought a nonfrivolous public interest lawsuit against a city (they won a legal issue, but lost on the facts).  PLF filed an amicus lett ...

Strong public records laws give citizens access to the information they need to hold government accountable.  PLF knows firsthand that public records can arm citizens with evidence of constitutional or statutory abuses, enabling them to make better decisions in court or in the voting booth. For this reason, all fifty states and the federal govern ...