In Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, California, published April 12, 2024, the United States Supreme Court reversed the decision of a California Court of Appeal. The plaintiff wanted to build a small prefabricated home on his residential parcel of land for his grandson to live in. The General Plan that the county board of supervisors…
In Gearing v. City of Half Moon Bay, published December 8, 2022, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court decision granting the defendant city's motion to abstain under Railroad Commission of Texas v. Pullman Co. (1941) 312 U.S. 496 from hearing the plaintiffs' regulatory takings case while the city's eminent domain suit regarding…
In Today's IV, Inc. v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, published October 5, 2022, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 8 affirmed judgment in favor of the defendant authority after demurrer and motion for judgment on the pleadings. The plaintiff owns the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The only access to the hotel's…
In Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, published June 28, 2021, the U.S.U.S. Supreme Court, per curiam vacated and remanded a 9th Circuit decision. Plaintiffs challenged a city requirement that they offer a tenant in a tenancy-in-common a lifetime lease as a condition of converting to condominium ownership. The city refused to exempt them…
In Weiss v. People ex rel. Dept. of Transportation, published July 16, 2020, the California Supreme Court reversed a judgment entered in an inverse condemnation case after the trial court resolved liability issues on a motion made under Code of Civil Procedure section 1260.040. Property owners brought the action alleging that sound walls along the 5…
In Knick v. Township of Scott, PA., published June 21, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a district court decision and a Third Circuit decision dismissing a regulatory takings case as unripe. The plaintiff, on whose land neighbors were buried, challenged an ordinance that required cemeteries to be kept open and accessible to the public. The…
In Black v. City of Palos Verdes, published September 6, 2018, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 1 affirmed the trial court's decision denying a petition for a writ of mandate and finding that the defendant city's moratorium on construction in a landslide area was not a regulatory taking. The city had areas where ancient…
In Wlliams v. Moulton Niguel Water District et al., published May 3, 2018, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 3 affirmed judgment granted to the defendant water district after a bifurcated bench trial. The plaintiff class of homeowners alleged that the district's addition of chloramine to the water the homeowners were receiving caused pinhole leaks…