Topic
CEQA Litigation
31 published works
CEQA Developments
When CEQA Litigation Becomes “One Battle After Another”: First District Holds Res Judicata Precludes Third CEQA Action Challenging Caltrans’ Richardson Grove State Park Highway Improvement Project Where Petitioners Sought to Relitigate Issues Necessarily Resolved By Unappealed Final Orders Discharging Two Earlier Writs
In an important published opinion filed March 26, 2026, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 2) affirmed a trial court’s judgment denying the third CEQA writ petition filed over…
CEQA Developments
Ninth Circuit Squashes RICO Lawsuit Seeking Federal Remedy For Abusive and Extortionate CEQA Litigation
Litigation abuse is all too familiar to those engaged in the herculean task of getting new development approved in California. See, for instance, Jennifer Hernandez’s 2022 report for the Center…
Environmental and Climate
Project’s Completion Did Not Moot CEQA Claim
By Christopher M. Marelich, Samuel D. Bacal-Graves, Andrew M. Skanchy
Introduction On March 29, 2024, the First District Court of Appeal issued its partially published opinion in the case of Vichy Springs Resort, Inc. v. City of Ukiah (2024) 101…
Real Estate, Land Use & Environmental Law Blog
2023 Year-in-Review CEQA Litigation
Despite repeated attempts at reform by the Legislature, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) continues to be a minefield for those assigned with the herculean task of complying with the…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
Trial Court Cannot Retain Jurisdiction if Terms of Peremptory Writ of Mandate are Fully Satisfied
By Taylor Jones
The trial court improperly retained jurisdiction of a CEQA challenge after the City of San Diego filed a return to the peremptory writ of mandate confirming that it had rescinded…
CEQA Developments
Another Call for CEQA Litigation Reform? Second District Rejects NIMBY Group’s CEQA, Coastal Act, and Land Use Challenges, Affirms Judgment Upholding Approval of Zoning-Compliant And CEQA-Exempt Eldercare Facility On Flat, Graded, Vacant One-Acre Infill Site Surrounded By Residential and Commercial Development
In a published opinion filed March 8, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Division 8) affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying writ relief in a lawsuit challenging approval of…
Administrative and Regulatory
First District Affirms Denial of Anti-SLAPP Motion in a Malicious Prosecution Action Filed Against CEQA Petitioner’s Attorney
By Breana M. Inoshita, Kathryn L. Oehlschlager
In Jenkins et al. v. Brandt-Hawley et al. (2022) 86 Cal.App.5th 1357, the First District Court of Appeal found that CEQA suits can be subject to malicious prosecution actions. The…
CEQA Developments
When CEQA Litigation Turns Tortious: First District Affirms Order Denying Anti-SLAPP Motion, Allows Malicious Prosecution Action To Proceed Against Counsel Who Brought Unsuccessful CEQA Challenge To Single-Home Project
While CEQA is a complicated area of law, often criticized as a “plaintiff’s sandbox,” CEQA litigation is not a “free-for-all” immune from malicious prosecution actions when it is unsuccessfully pursued…
CEQA Developments
CEQA vs. Housing: A Very Wrong Picture
A 10-page article by Holland & Knight’s Jennifer Hernandez, published this month by the Center for Jobs & the Economy/California Business Roundtable, documents that CEQA litigation targeted nearly 50,000 housing…
Environmental and Climate
Emergency Pandemic Tolling no Excuse for Untimely CEQA Suit; Petitioner’s Attempts to Evade Procedural Dismissal Unsuccessful
In Committee for Sound Water & Land Development v. City of Seaside (2022) 79 Cal.App.5th 389, the Sixth District Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s finding that a CEQA…