Articles

Author: Damien M. Schiff Last week, I argued PLF's appeal in Barnum Timber Co. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.  PLF represents Barnum Timber Co., a family-run timber harvesting operation based in Eureka, California.  In this case, PLF is suing EPA over the agen ...

Yesterday, PLF scored a win in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Barnum Timber Co. v. EPA.  Pacific Legal Foundation represents Barnum Timber, a small, family-run timber company based in Humboldt County, California. Redwood Creek, which runs through Barnum’s timberlands, has been designated by EPA as an impaired waterbody under Section 3 ...

Author:  Damien M. Schiff This week PLF filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of the petitioners in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut.  The case concerns whether federal courts can hear public nuisance cases that are based on the greenhouse gas emissions of large energy companies.  The Connec ...

California’s hostile business climate is exemplified by the state’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), which invites plaintiffs with trivial and even nonexistent injuries to bombard companies with “consumer protection” lawsuits.  Because these lawsuits benefit the trial bar far more than consumers, California voters enacted Prop ...

Largely lost in the hullaballoo yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed First American v. Edwards as “improvidently granted.”  It did not give any reasons for the dismissal. This case asked whether a plaintiff who suffered no injury whatsoever from a defendant’s technical violation of statute could pursue a class action in federal ...

I signed the agreement today to publish my article, State Standing to Challenge Ultra Vires Federal Action: The Health Care Cases And Beyond in the U. Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy. In it, I argue that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong to dismiss the Virginia lawsuit challenging Obamacare–a point I explained … ...

Although Pacific Legal Foundation takes no position on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, PLF submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court solely on the issue of standing.  PLF argues that sponsors of any successful California initiative have standing to defend the measure in court if elected officials decline to do so.  Today, the & ...

Regardless of readers’ specific views on Prop. 8, today the Court decided an important question about standing — and it got it wrong.  Hollingsworth v. Perry will have serious repercussions that extend far beyond the same-sex marriage debate.  Today’s decision could spell disaster for any group that successfully sponsors an init ...

Florence Pacleb sued Allstate Insurance for calling him on his cellphone in violation of anti-solitication laws.  Allstate offered to pay the damages Pacleb demanded and his attorney’s fees.  Most courts hold that once a defendant offers to fully satisfy a plaintiff’s claims, the plaintiff’s claims become moot, meaning that t ...