Articles

Ninth circuit hears argument on whether interior secretary is above the law

May 14, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Today, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Drakes Bay Oyster Company presents its case for enjoining the Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service from destroying its business before its legal claims can even be heard in court.  You can follow my live tweet from today’s oral argument on twitter @TonyFrancoisEsq, #SaveDBOC, ...

Articles

Ninth circuit should re-examine flawed ESA precedent in re-hearing drakes bay appeal

October 25, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

This morning PLF, joined by the California Cattlemen’s Association and the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area, filed an amicus brief in support of Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s petition for rehearing en banc of the Court’s September decision in their case. That opinion upheld the trial court’s denial of an injunctio ...

Articles

Ninth circuit denies rehearing in oyster farm case

January 14, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

This morning the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s petition for rehearing, and issued an amended opinion in the case which once again upholds the trial court’s decision to deny the oyster farm an injunction which would prevent the closure of the farm. The oyster farm will have to consider its … ...

Articles

Drakes Bay Oyster Company to seek relief at United States Supreme Court

January 15, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Late yesterday, after the Ninth Circuit denied its petition for rehearing, Drakes Bay Oyster Company announced in a statement that it will seek relief in the United States Supreme Court.  The oyster farm is fighting for survival after the Department of the Interior refused to renew a permit that the farm needs to remain in … ...

Articles

Drakes Bay Oyster Company seeks review in US Supreme Court

April 14, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Today, Drakes Bay Oyster Company filed its petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the federal government’s decision to shut down the oyster farm is immune from judicial review. The petition raises a fundamental question that strikes at the heart of the administrative ...

Articles

US Supreme Court declines to hear Drakes Bay Oyster Company appeal

June 30, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Pacific Legal Foundation is very disappointed that the court declined to hear this very important case.  For now, Americans in certain parts of the country will remain subject to second class citizenship, because the federal courts are closed to them when federal agencies terminate their permits and licenses, even when those actions destroy jobs ...

Articles

Drakes Bay Oyster Company reaches settlement

October 20, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s appeal of whether it could challenge the Interior Department’s refusal to renew its permit in federal court.  Since that decision, the oyster farm has ceased retail sales on site, and recently completed a settlement agreement that allows it to continu ...

Articles

Supreme Court justices consider National Park Service control of private and state property

January 20, 2016 | By TONY FRANCOIS

It is ice cold under sunny skies in the nation’s capitol today, as Washington DC braces for yet another storm of the century this coming weekend. It is a fitting setting for the Supreme Court to hear oral argument today in the aptly-captioned Sturgeon v. Frost. In this case, the National Park Service is claiming … ...

Articles

Justices skeptical of Park Service's power to regulate private and state property

January 21, 2016 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in Sturgeon v. Frost, in which the issue is whether the National Park Service can regulate activity on property it does not own but is located within the exterior boundaries of a National Park. Several justices were skeptical of the federal government’s argument that ̷ ...