Articles

caption id="" align="alignright" width="567" Is this navigable? An exposed permafrost layer -- considered to be a "water of the United States" by the Corps of Engineers. Permafrost underlies roughly 85% of Alaska's 663,300 square miles./caption PLF asks Supreme Court to hear Alaska permafrost case This week, PLF filed a petition asking the Un ...

In late May, PLF attorneys filed this brief on the merits in the case of Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania, which is currently before the United States Supreme Court. The Knick case is a property rights dispute arising from a Town's efforts to force Ms. Rose Mary Knick to allow the public to enter and walk on her private property seven days ...

On Friday, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed House Bill 631, ending Walton County's attempt to steal free access to the private property of PLF's clients Edward and Delanie Goodwin and landowners across Walton County. Forty years ago, the Goodwins' built their beachfront home in Walton County, Florida. Like countless beachfront property owners ...

caption id="attachment_49725" align="alignright" width="300" Caution: Repainting this sign may constitute development under the Coastal Act/caption 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 ...

Too often, property rights and conservation are treated as if they are in tension. But, in reality, property rights are a proven means to encourage responsible stewardship, resolve conflicts over limited resources, and empower environmentalists to protect resources they value. To achieve these positive environmental ends, however, property right ...

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court held that the City of Newport Beach must conduct further environmental analysis for a proposed housing development outside the city limits. The property at issue is Banning Ranch, a 400-acre plot of largely undeveloped coastal property in unincorporated Orange County. The proposed development would add much-n ...

This weekend, Forbes carried an excellent story about PLF's fight on behalf of Edward and Delanie Goodwin. In July, PLF attorneys filed a First Amendment challenge to protect the Goodwins' right to speak on their own private property. Walton County banned signs on privately owned beaches last year, hoping to allow the public to trespass on private ...

Today, the North Carolina Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle, a beach property rights dispute pitting a couple's right to limit access to their beachfront land against a local government's desire to open it up the land to public and town driving. The case arises from Emerald Isle, a barrier island on North Caro ...

This week, PLF attorneys filed a Petition for Certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review the case of Arrigoni Enterprises LLC v. Town of Durham,  a ten -year regulatory takings dispute arising from a Connecticut town's denial of a property owner's development plans. The Petition specifically urges the Court to take the case for the purpose of ov ...