Articles

Late last week, the California Fourth District Court of Appeal issued an unpublished decision in San Diego Unified Port District v. California Coastal Commission. Reversing the trial court, the court of appeal held that the Commission correctly denied the San Diego Port District’s master plan amendment. The amendment would have changed the cu ...

Seattle asks courts to clear the way for unlawful taxes Late last year, a King County, Washington, trial court ruled in Kunath v. City of Seattle (formerly Shock v. City of Seattle), that Seattle’s attempt to levy an income tax on so called “high-earners” was plainly unlawful. In what the local press has called a … ...

Today, we submitted an amicus brief in the California court of appeal in San Diego Unified Port District v. California Coastal Commission. The case concerns the Port’s attempts to modify its land-use plan for Harbor Island, a popular tourist spot in San Diego Bay. The Commission denied the Port’s requested modification (which would fac ...

For landowners along California’s coast, maintaining the right to build a seawall or other protective device can mean the difference between preserving one’s home or having it fall into the sea during the next winter storm. The California Coastal Act recognizes the importance of preserving landowners’ rights to protect their prope ...

Supreme Court grants hugely important property rights case! For over thirty years PLF attorneys have been trying to put an end to the infamous “Williamson County” rule that stops property owners from going to federal court to vindicate their constitutionally guaranteed property rights. Named after a 1985 case where the Court refused to ...

PLF supports property owners’ right to a jury in federal takings cases, Code violations should not be a city’s no-appeal cash machine, and Courts should rule in the best interests of Indian children—just like other children are treated. … ...

Motion for summary judgment to be filed in Minerva Dairy, PLF testifies before Congress on WOTUS, and the California Supreme Court upholds compulsory interest arbitration for agricultural employers. … ...

Squash the wrong bug, go to jail The price of selling your home in Santa Barbara? An illegal warrantless search. Free speech wins one in California legislature! Brief filed in Oklahoma First Amendment right to say who you are case Oral argument in Florida takings case Allies file amicus briefs in support of our bird … ...

Surfrider Foundation has been battling Vinod Khosla in the California courts for several years, trying to force him to allow the public to cross his private property and use his private beach. We’ve written before about the myths and realities of that dispute–of which there are many. In August, a unanimous court of appeal panel … ...