The property owner has filed its Reply in Support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in Charles A. Pratt Const. Co. v. California Coastal Comm’n, No. 08-668 (cert. petition filed Nov. 18, 2008) (SCOTUS docket report here). The petition seeks review of the California Court of Appeal’s opinion reported at 76 Cal. Rptr.
42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Civil Rights
California Coastal Commission’s Brief In Opposition In Charles A. Pratt Construction Co. Cert Petition (Penn Central and Williamson County)
The California Coastal Commission has filed its Brief in Opposition to the cert petition in Charles A. Pratt Const. Co. v. California Coastal Comm’n, No. 08-668 (cert. petition filed Nov. 18, 2008) (SCOTUS docket report here). The California Court of Appeal’s opinion, reported at 76 Cal. Rptr. 2d 466 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008) is…
2008 Land Use In Review: Ripeness Games In Regulatory Takings
In 2008, we continued to castigate the Williamson County ripeness rules, culminating in December when we filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to take a harder look at how the “final determination” aspect of the rule is being applied. The rule has two parts.
First, the state-litigation rule requires a regulatory takings plaintiff…
2008 Land Use In Review: The Ninth Circuit Rediscovers Substantive Due Process
In a development that began in November 2007 (2005 actually, if the starting point is seen as the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lingle v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S 528 (2005)), the Ninth Circuit finally ditched Armendariz v. Penman,75 F.3d 1311 (9th Cir. 1996) (en banc), and recognized that property owners are…
New Article: The Ninth Circuit Rediscovers Substantive Due Process In Land Use Cases
The Zoning and Planning Law Report (Thomson | West) has published my article about the post-Lingle developments in substantive due process in the Ninth Circuit. Download a pdf of the article here.
From the introduction:
Substantive due process asserted as a claim for relief has a whiff of danger about it. After all…
Overrule Williamson County
On November 25, 2008, the Supreme Court will consider whether to review the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Braun v. Ann Arbor Charter Township, 519 F.3d 564 (6th Cir. 2008), a decision we analyzed here. The petition expressly asks the Court to overrule Williamson County. We’ve detailed the kafkaesque nature of the Williamson…
Pleading Class of One Equal Protection Land Use Claims
The most easily recognizable equal protection claim is one in which the plaintiff claims membership in a protected group, and some form of discrimination against the class. Another type of equal protection claim is the “class of one” claim under Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, 528 U.S. 562 (2000) (per curiam), where the Court…
Ninth Circuit: City’s (Alleged) Failure to Enforce the Zoning Code Is Not A Substantive Due Process Violation (Oh, And Armendariz is Still Overruled)
In Shanks v. Byrd, No. 06-35665 (Aug. 27, 2008), the Ninth Circuit held that a municipality’s alleged failure to enforce its zoning laws was not a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Developers who convert homes into student residents apparently did not obtain all of the appropriate permits from Spokane, Washington to remodel a portion…
Ninth Circuit: “Lawyers Must Eat, So They Generally Won’t Take Cases Without A Reasonable Prospect Of Getting Paid.”
In Moreno v. City of Sacramento, No. 06-15021 (9th Cir. July 28, 2008), the Ninth Circuit clarified the rules for calculating “prevailing party” attorneys fees in civil rights cases under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The district court rejected the plaintiff’s claim, and reduced both the number of hours the plaintiff’s attorney claimed, and…
New Federal Court Land Use Case Against County of Maui
A Lahaina business owner has sued the County of Maui in federal court in Honolulu. In Goo v. County of Maui, CV 08-00172 DAE (filed Apr. 17, 2008), the Complaint alleges the County and Planning Department officials drove the International Open Market Place, a gift and craft fair, out of business by deliberately favoring…
