Legal Digest

A lawsuit challenging a mitigated negative declaration for a conditional use permit in the City of Irvine cannot go forward because the plaintiff did not serve the city with the lawsuit within 90 days, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

When the City of Lake Forest added the power of eminent domain to a 14-year-old redevelopment plan, the city should have made new blight findings, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

The City of Los Angeles's general plan framework has survived a second lawsuit filed by neighborhood activists, who won an earlier round against the city.

The City of Escondido erred when it approved a lower-than-requested mobile home rent increase, but the city's action did not constitute a taking of private property, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

WASHINGTON _ The U.S. Supreme Court appeared unreceptive in late February to arguments by property-rights advocates to rein in the use of eminent domain by municipalities that take land and turn it over to private companies for economic development.

A county may not rely on mitigation measures to determine that a project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A county may extend the life of a tentative subdivision map that has expired if the subdivider filed for an extension before the map expired, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

The fight over a gigantic addition to a house in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades area has resulted in an appellate court decision revoking three building permits and the certificate of occupancy for the structure. The order to revoke permits, originally issued by the trial court, came because the city let the property owner build 14 feet closer to the street than permitted by the Municipal Code.

An airport land use compatibility plan that discourages housing development on hundreds of thousands of acres is a "project" that requires a review of potential environmental impacts, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

An appellate court has thrown out a decision by a City of Los Angeles planning commission because of the activities of a planning commissioner prior to a public hearing.

A lawsuit challenging approval of the 6,000-acre, 22,500-unit Sunrise Douglas community plan and a related specific plan in Rancho Cordova has been tossed out by the Third District Court of Appeal.