The Town of Mammoth Lakes has been ordered to pay more than $32 million for violating a development agreement.

In upholding a jury's award of damages to the developer, the Third District Court of Appeal made clear that local government agencies are treated like any other private contracting party when it comes to development agreements and can be held liable for damages if the agency breaches the agreement.

A state appellate court has thrown out an Inyo County general plan amendment that the county argued was nothing more than a clarification of a longstanding policy.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, concluded that the amendment was more than a mere clarification and that the county should have completed an environmental impact report before approving the amendment.

An appellate court has blocked a controversial subdivision at the eastern base of Mt. Whitney because the project's environmental impact report did not adequately consider a potential land swap between the developer and the Bureau of Land Management.