This Monday, the San Luis Obispo Superior Court will be hearing arguments on the merits of PLF’s lawsuit on behalf of a southern California family in SDS Family Trust v. California Coastal Commission. The hearing is at 9:00 a.m., in Department 3, at 1035 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo. In this case, the SDS Family … ...
The San Francisco Daily Journal published my op-ed today on last week’s California Court of Appeal decision in the Friends of Martin’s Beach case. As I have written before, in this case an advocacy group sued property owner Vinod Khosla claiming that the public is entitled to cross his property to reach the beach. The group relied ...
PLF recently filed a friend of the court letter with the California Supreme Court, encouraging the justices to grant review in an important due process challenge against the California Coastal Commission. The Coastal Commission brought a highly questionable enforcement action against our friends at Drakes Bay Oyster Company, accusing the company o ...
Sometimes life comes at you fast. Just last week we reported on our letter asking the California Supreme Court to grant review in Drakes Bay Oyster Company v. California Coastal Commission, to decide whether an enforcement agency can compromise its constitutionally required neutrality by putting its decidedly biased enforcement staff in charge of d ...
PLF fights for booksellers’ First Amendment rights On Thursday, PLF filed a major civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Book Passage, a bookstore in the Bay Area. The lawsuit challenges a California statute that requires businesses that sell signed items to demonstrate the authenticity of the signatures. This is a particular problem for bookstore ...
The California Coastal Act was designed to preserve coastal resources and public beach access while also protecting private property rights. In furtherance of the last goal, the Coastal Act protects the right of property owners to build seawalls and other devices to protect their homes from storms and erosions. Yet, over the past few years, ...
In 1996, Dr. Mark and Bella Greene, a couple from Pennsylvania, bought an older beach house in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles. Their plan is to remodel this home and spend their retirement in southern California close to their son and their grandchildren. A few years ago, they started the process to get permits for … ...
The Constitution protects property rights from unelected government agencies Holding state administrative agencies accountable to the law Does “land owned or controlled by the Federal Government” include the ocean? PLF sues Seattle for banning new housing websites Democracy vouchers violate free speech PLF responds to Seattle’s ap ...
Coastal Commission challenged on “yurt” condition This week we filed an amicus brief in the California court of appeal to support the San Diego Port District’s challenge to a Coastal Commission demand for more “lower cost visitor accommodations” in the San Diego Bay area. The Port wants to amend its land-use plan to fa ...