Legal Digest

The state Supreme Court has accepted for review a California Environmental Quality Act case involving the water supply for a huge project in Sacramento County. >>read more

A new opinion issued by the state attorney general's office regarding housing elements appears to allow cities and counties to skirt their mandated fair-share housing numbers if the local government lacks the resources sufficient to provide the units. >>read more

The First District Court of Appeal has blocked a developer's request to collect from its courtroom opponents the cost of preparing the administrative record in a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit. >>read more

Santa Cruz County is not allowed to regulate the height of mobile homes because state law has pre-empted the possibility of a local ordinance, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more

Two water transfers from irrigation districts to the City of Tracy did not require a combined environmental impact report, the Third District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court found that the separate negative declarations adopted by the irrigation districts provided adequate review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). >>read more

The California Supreme Court has accepted two more land use cases, one of which is a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) case that has generated quite a bit of discussion. The second one is an inverse condemnation case involving street landscaping that blocks a view of billboards. >>read more

A lawsuit challenging the City of Stockton's decision to privatize its water, wastewater and storm drain systems is headed back to trial court, where a judge will reconsider whether the city's contract with a private company is exempt from environmental review. >>read more

Kern County should have prepared an environmental impact report before adopting an ordinance regulating the disposal of sewage sludge on agricultural land, the Fifth District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more

A lawsuit challenging a building permit granted by San Francisco was not filed and served before the statute of limitations deadline, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court also held that the city's notice of decision and order did not deceive the project opponent regarding the deadline. >>read more

A City of San Francisco decision to deny an application for a cell phone antenna has been upheld in part by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. >>read more

A billboard company has lost a lawsuit seeking damages from the City of Los Angeles for planting trees that obstructed visibility of six billboards. >>read more

A lawsuit filed by Malibu property owners while the City of Malibu was suing the Coastal Commission was not a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more

The meetings of two Malibu City Council members whom the council had charged with reviewing and negotiating over a land use plan prepared by the Coastal Commission were not subject to the state's open meeting law, an appellate court panel has ruled. >>read more

WASHINGTON _ The Supreme Court has spared municipalities from the threat of paying attorneys fees awards for improperly blocking construction of cellphone towers.