In Westside Los Angeles Neighbors Network v. City of Los Angeles (2024) 104 Cal.App.5th 223, the Second District held that the City of Los Angeles Planning Commission (“Commission”) was a decision-making body authorized to certify the final EIR for the entirety of the Westside Mobility Plan (“Mobility Plan”). The Court found that this authority
In People ex rel. Bonta v. County of Lake (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 1222, the First District Court of Appeal held that the Final EIR (“FEIR”) and associated errata for a proposed mixed-use development project, located in a rural part of Lake County, failed to adequately assess the increased risk of human-caused wildfires the project created. The
In Yolo Land and Water Defense v. the County of Yolo (2024 105 Cal.App.5th 710, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld the County’s EIR for a sand and gravel mine, known as the Teichert Shifler Mining and Reclamation Project. Downey Brand attorneys Andrew Skanchy and Sam Bacal-Graves successfully represented the County in this litigation,
In Save Our Capitol! v. Dept. of Gen Servs. (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 828—the third appeal challenging renovations and additions to the State Capitol (Project) under CEQA—the Third District Court of Appeal rejected petitioner’s challenges to the revised EIR for the Project on the grounds that newly enacted Senate Bill No. 174 (2023-2024 Reg. Sess.) (SB
If you don’t recall, NAFSMA is the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, and I am attending NAFSMA’s 46th annual conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Today I had the pleasure of addressing the attendees as part of the legal panel and I chose to use my time to talk about the lawsuit that was
It’s “what?” you might ask. NAFSMA, the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, was formed 46 years ago as a place where public agencies in the flood and stormwater space could come together, learn from each other, and partner with the Federal government to make life better and safer. I have had the privilege of
In Relevant Grp., LLC v. Nourmand (9th Cir. Sep. 5, 2024, No. 23-55574) 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 22559, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed the applicability of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) in addressing abuse of CEQA by business competitors. Despite recognizing that the facts suggested the CEQA suits had been brought
In Sunflower Alliance v. California Department of Conservation (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 771, the First District Court of Appeal held that a project that would turn an existing oil well into an injection well to pump water back into an aquifer (Project) was exempt from CEQA under the Class 1 exemption for minor alterations to an
In Meinhardt v. City of Sunnyvale (2024) 16 Cal.5th 643 (“Meinhardt”), the California Supreme Court resolved a split in authorities over a procedural matter that will give CEQA litigants some certainty about when an appeal must be filed.
When a party loses their case in a California superior court they are entitled to appeal by right,
The California Supreme Court, on June 6, 2024, reversed the First District Court of Appeal’s decision regarding UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) EIR. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision clears the way for UC Berkeley to resume construction on the controversial residential development at People’s Park and to implement its long-term campus plan.
In