Legal Digest

A mobile home park owner in San Luis Obispo County has won a state court order for a new county hearing on a rent increase. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that Manufactured Home Communities is due a new hearing because it did not have the opportunity to cross-examine tenants who testified against the proposed rent increases at an earlier county hearing. » read more | add to cart

A property owner cannot participate in a California Coastal Commission appeal process for years and then assert that the Commission was prohibited from considering the appeal because it missed a procedural deadline years earlier, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court rejected a Pacific Palisades landowner’s contention that the Commission had lost jurisdiction over an appeal of the landowner’s three-lot development because the Commission did not conduct a hearing within 49 days of receiving an appeal in 1999.
» read more | add to cart

An environmental impact report for a proposed quarry in Madera County has been thrown out by an appellate court, which found the document’s consideration of water, traffic, noise and cumulative impacts to be inadequate. The court also determined a water supply assessment is needed for a mitigation measure that could require the quarry to connect surrounding property owners with a water system. » read more | add to cart

A state appellate court has upheld the Coastal Commission’s handling of a housing project appeal. The court ruled that although the Commission did not comply precisely with the state open meeting law’s requirements, the Commission came close enough and did not portray an intent to avoid the law. » read more | add to cart

Monterey County has been ordered to pay more than $244,000 in attorney fees and costs in a California Public Records Act case involving a long-controversial development proposal in Carmel Valley. » read more | add to cart

Sometimes, email is no substitute for snail mail. In a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) case from Contra Costa County, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled that notification of a trial court’s judgment via email did not trigger the 60-day deadline for filing an appeal. » read more | add to cart

Agreements approved by Riverside County and cities in the Coachella Valley in support of a multiple species habitat conservation plan did not violate a political corruption law, according to the state attorney general’s office. » read more | add to cart

The Fourth District Court of Appeal has thrown out a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit filed by Riverside residents because of a procedural error. » read more | add to cart

Cities, counties and public water agencies have broad discretion over the way they conduct water supply assessments for development projects that rely on groundwater, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. » read more | add to cart

WASHINGTON – Industry and environmental groups in California are awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that could determine how far the state’s coastal power plants must go to reduce their fish-killing intake of ocean waters used to cool generating facilities. » read more | add to cart