CP&DR

Defendant Entitled to Attorney's Fees Even if Case Dropped

Mar 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 03 Mar 1999

The defendants in an alleged SLAPP suit are entitled to attorneys fees even if the plaintiffs drop the case before the SLAPP motion to strike is heard, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. The appellate panel overturned the ruling of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl, saying that Kuhl's ruling "constitutes a nullification of an important part of California's anti-SLAPP legislation" because it denies the defendants monetary relief and relieves the plaintiffs of punis...

North Natomas HCP

Mar 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Environment Watch, Vol. 14 No. 03 Mar 1999

North Natomas A lawsuit challenging a habitat conservation plan for Sacramento's North Natomas area has been filed in federal court by a group of environmentalists. A popular tool promoted by the Clinton administration, HCPs are intended to end disputes with landowners over plants and animals covered by the Endangered Species Act. Under the Natomas HCP, an acre of land is to be preserved for every two acres developed in the area, a few miles north of downtown Sacramento along Interstat...

Ordering Poolrooms Closed at 2 a.m. Violates Equal Protection

Mar 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 03 Mar 1999

In a split decision, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled that the City of Riverside's requirement that poolrooms be closed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. is unconstitutional because it denies poolroom owners equal protection under the law. Noting that the ordinance dates back to 1909, Acting Presiding Justice Thomas Hollenhorst wrote for the majority: "Unfortunately, times are different today, and there are many establishments that cater to idleness and are open all night. The City...

Anti-SLAPP Law Grows: ‘Issue of Public Significance' Receives Broad Reading

Mar 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 03 Mar 1999

In a split decision, the California Supreme Court has once again expanded the scope of the anti-SLAPP law. This time, the court concluded that an allegation of racism in small-claims court and a complaint to the federal government does constitute the type of "issue of public significance" described in the law. In overturning a ruling by the First District Court of Appeal, the five-member Supreme Court majority rejected the argument that a nonprofit organization's tenant counseling activities wer...

Lack of Engineering Details Does Not Invalidate Study

Mar 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 03 Mar 1999

The lack of precise engineering plans in an environmental impact report's project description of a proposed gravel mine expansion did not violate the California Environmental Quality Act, the Fifth District Court of Appeal has ruled. "CEQA requires an EIR to reflect a good faith effort at full disclosure; it does not mandate perfection, nor does it require an analysis to be exhaustive," Justice James F. Thaxter wrote in the unanimous decision for the three-judge panel. When considering an ...

No Taking in Rent Control: Deeply Split, Cal Supremes Uphold Santa Monica Law

Feb 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 02 Feb 1999

In a case with potentially widespread significance, a sharply divided California Supreme Court has upheld the Santa Monica rent control law against an inverse condemnation claim. In concluding that rent control cases are subject to a different level of judicial scrutiny than cases involving exactions and other economic aspects of land-use regulation, the Supreme Court has created the possibility that different types of inverse condemnation cases will be treated differently in court. Espec...

Adult Business Regulation: Newport Beach Revocation of Permit is Upheld

Feb 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 02 Feb 1999

Ruling on wide-ranging issues in three separate cases filed by the same business, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has upheld a Newport Beach adult business ordinance as constitutional and concluded that the city did not violate the business's constitutional rights by denying some permits and revoking others. As the court stated in its decision, the case is about "appropriate ways in which to distinguish a theater from a restaurant - something with which the general public seems to have ...

Initiatives: Defect Means City Can't Simply Adopt Initiative

Feb 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 02 Feb 1999

The First District Court of Appeal has overturned the Hayward City Council's decision to adopt a proposed ballot initiative reaffirming open-space designations within the city and subjecting future open-space zone changes to a vote. The court concluded that because the signature-gathering effort was legally flawed, the council did not have the right to adopt the initiative as a city ordinance. The decision - a reversal of the trial judge's ruling - is a victory for Mervyn's, the retail chain, which ha...

Costal Act: ‘Calvo EXckusion' Doesn't Apply in Malibu Coastal Dispute

Feb 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 02 Feb 1999

A Malibu property owner can't rely on the so-called "Calvo exclusion" - which exempts single-family homes from Coastal Commission jurisdiction - because the property owner had previously agreed to submit to the commission's control, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. "Appellant has taken inconsistent positions in this litigation, first waiving the right to further litigate the Calvo exclusion and agreeing to obey any Commission order regarding restoration of the property, and later asserti...

SFO Offers 15:1 Wetlands Swap for New Runway

Jan 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Economic Development, Vol. 14 No. 01 Jan 1999

San Francisco Airport officials have proposed an airport runway expansion that has a novel tradeoff for environmentalists. In exchange for filling up to 1,400 acres of San Francisco Bay for new runways, the airport proposes to restore 29,000 acres of bay wetlands that are located east and south of the airport. The proposal, which is to be formally presented at the end of January, is already proving controversial in the environmental community, and is strongly opposed by Cargill Salt, whose land could...

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