Articles

City claims that environmental regulations should trump constitutionally protected property rights

August 24, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Kipp and Marilyn Dunlap bought a vacant residential lot in Nooksack, Washington with the dream of building their home there.  But the city had other ideas.  You see, Nooksack slough runs through the middle of the Dunlaps’ lot, and the city declared that land adjacent to streams constitutes an environmentall ...

Articles

Muggery or skullduggery? How Oregon takes your money without “taking” it

September 29, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Imagine, if you will, a criminal defendant on trial for robbery.  In his defense, the mugger argues that when he pointed a pistol at Joe citizen’s head and demanded “your money or your life, ” he wasn’t stealing.  No, stealing is such an ugly word.  The mugger was simply allowing Joe ...

Articles

Washington Supreme Court limits inverse condemnation defenses

September 30, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges  Earlier this month, Washington’s Supreme Court issued its long-awaited inverse condemnation decision in Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County.  The case arose from a joint state/local project to protect a state highway from flood damage by diking the Methow River.  The diking project, however, blocked the r ...

Articles

Court of Appeals : stream buffers took private property

October 25, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier this year, PLF stepped in to help Kipp and Marilyn Dunlap protect themselves against an uncompensated taking of their vacant residential lot in Nooksack, Washington (located just south of the Canadian border).  As you may recall, the Dunlaps purchased a quarter-acre lot with the dream of building their home the ...

Articles

Blogging from our man in Hawaii . . .

October 15, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Anne Hayes If you scroll through the staff photos on our website, you will find Robert Thomas as the attorney who heads up PLF's Hawaii Center.  Although Mr. Thomas works with PLF, he hold the title of Director at a private law firm in Hawaii and specializes in land use and appellate law.  He … ...

Articles

PLF argues for cities to be accountable when they flood their residents

March 06, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

PLF colleague Jennifer Fry recently posted on the frustrations of a Sacramento family after their home burned down.  FEMA’s de-certification of the levees protecting their neighborhood resulted in a building moratorium that prevents the Taylors from rebuilding their fire-destroyed home, even though they have insurance to do so.  But what ...

Articles

PLF asks California high court to hear flooding inverse condemnation case

August 04, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

We previously reported on the case of Biron v. City of Redding, in which an apartment building owner is seeking compensation under inverse condemnation for damage that the city’s storm drain system did during a rain storm.  The issue in the case is what level of fault the Birons must prove in order to recover. … ...

Articles

President's weekly report — October 30, 2015

October 30, 2015 | By ROB RIVETT

Obamacare back to the Supreme Court We filed our petition for cert in Sissel v. United States this week, asking the Supreme Court to take the case.  As our blog explains, when Justice Roberts upheld the law because it was a “tax” and not a “penalty,” we realized that if the individual mandate (as well … ...

Articles

President's weekly report — November 6, 2015

November 06, 2015 | By ROB RIVETT

Property rights — mapping the property away We filed this amicus brief in Kirby v. North Carolina supporting the rights of landowners. In a scenario common in many states, transportation agencies know they will likely be building new roads and highways, they have a pretty good idea where those roads might go, but they don’t … ...