Here’s a recent cert petition which asks the Supreme Court to take up the case of a small property owner in West Hollywood, California, whose case was dismissed when he asked “[h]ow far can a city expand rent control to advance general socioeconomic policies before crossing constitutional property protections?” Pet. at 3.
Here are the Questions Presented:
1. Whether a municipality may transform temporary emergency rent restrictions and occupancy mandates adopted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic into permanent rent control measures that expand benefits to tenants and the public at large at the expense of private property owners, without triggering scrutiny under the Takings and Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
2. Whether the denial of leave to amend, despite the viability of property claims for takings and due process violations, constituted an abuse of discretion under this Court’s liberal standard for amendment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a).
Stay tuned here, or follow along on the Court’s docket.
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, Ballard v. City of West Hollywood, No. 25-68 (U.S. July 16, 2025)