Articles

Today, we received a favorable, published decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Garrett v. City of New Orleans.   This case challenges the City’s demolition of a town home a couple (the Garretts) purchased from the City. The City destroyed the home without any notice, hearing or compensation to the … ...

In recent years, many local and state governments have used crafty methods to take access to private beaches without first paying for the right. Governments have imposed easements on private land, declared private land public, declared a right of custom where none existed, and attempted to expand the public trust doctrine beyond its limit. Today, ...

Recently we received a response to our amicus brief, filed in City of Perris v. Stamper, a case pending before the California Supreme Court. The National Federal of Independent Business joined us on the brief, which argued that cities can’t avoid paying fair market value for private property seized through creative general plan amendments. W ...

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has this nice article on PLF’s recent victory in Severance v. Patterson.  Here’s a snippet: In March, the Texas Supreme Court, in a 5-3 opinion, ruled that public beach easements don’t move in avulsive events, such as hurricanes, that reshape the coastline overnight. Easements shift only slowly, as ...

Six years ago PLF filed its complaint in federal court in Severance v. Patterson, a case challenging Texas’ policy of instantly converting private beachfront land into public property when storms move the vegetation line inland, and turn private parcels into “dry beaches.” In 2009, the 5th circuit ruled that Texas’  � ...