Author: Paul J. Beard II Earlier this month, the San Luis Obispo Superior Court delivered a nice win to PLF client, SDS Family Trust, in its fight against the California Coastal Commission. The Family is suing the Commission for extorting a mile-long public access easement across its coastal property as a condition of obtaining a … ...
The California Coastal Commission is known as being exceptionally antagonistic toward private property rights, an attitude embodied in the Commission’s late executive director Peter Douglas. Charles Lester, Douglas’s successor, recently spoke in Humboldt County before a large audience of government officials and environmental activist ...
One way that PLF can assure that its property rights victories have a long-lasting impact is to “connect the dots” between past cases and current controversies. A good example is the Washington Court of Appeals’ 1999 decision in Honesty In Environmental Analysis and Legislation v. Seattle, which stands out as the first Washingto ...
Today, PLF filed a lawsuit in Marin County Superior Court asking that the court invalidate three burdensome and unreasonable permit conditions that the California Coastal Commission imposed on property owners in violation of the Constitution. In this case, Daniel Altman and Avi Atid want to restore an important historic structure on Tomales Bay, an ...
Can the government force you to give up an interest in your real property in exchange for a building permit? That is the question PLF is litigating on behalf of property owners Scott and Lynn Powell in the California First District Court of Appeal. We recently filed our Opening Brief, in which we explain that … ...
Yesterday, the California Coastal Commission voted to amend the permit to renovate the Marshall Tavern, reducing project-killing conditions that had no connection to the renovation plan. PLF is representing the owners of Marshall Tavern, Daniel Altman and Avi Atid, in their constitutional challenge to the conditions imposed on their original perm ...
As reported, PLF represents Humboldt County residents Scott and Lynn Powell in their fight against government extortion. The County of Humboldt demands that the Powells obtain a building permit to bring some covered porches on their mobile home up to code. (The prior owner never bothered to get a permit). But the County won’t ...
Yesterday, the California First District Court of Appeal ruled against us in Powell v. County of Humboldt. This is the case challenging the County of Humboldt’s requirement that our clients, Scott and Lynn Powell, dedicate a public airspace easement above their property in exchange for a building permit. The County insists they obtain thi ...
Last week, the Ninth Circuit decided the remand of Horne v. USDA, the raisin case that the Supreme Court overturned last term. The case previously drew attention for what it had to say about Williamson County — the case that keeps essentially all takings cases from federal court. The most recent round in this litigation addresses … ...