Legal Digest

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.

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.