The Supreme Court of Tennessee reduced from $1 million to $500,000 a punitive damages award granted to property owners in their nuisance lawsuit against a highway construction company for burying tires and other debris on their land. Evidence supports the jury's award of punitive damages. There are ...

A California appellate court held that a local transportation agency's bus fare increase was statutorily exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Bus riders filed a petition for writ of mandate, arguing that the agency's use of the exemption, which remo...

A California appellate court held that a county was not required to conduct environmental review of a tax measure concerning transportation funding under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) prior to placing it on the general election ballot. The measure imposes a retail sales and use tax...

The Louisiana Supreme Court held that property owners who leased their land for oil and gas development were not required to give oil companies pre-suit notice or an opportunity to perform prior to filing their suit against the companies for property contamination. The companies argued that Article ...

The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the state's calculation of severance taxes owed by a company that operates a large natural gas well facility in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. State law provides that the fair market value of natural gas for severance tax purposes is determined after the produc...

A North Carolina appellate court held that the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission erred in issuing a country club a variance from state buffer requirements allowing it to build a nine-hole golf course along and over Banks Creek, certified trout waters. The applicable state statute requi...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying residents' motion to overturn a city's approval of use permits and zoning variances for a mixed-use development project. The residents failed to establish that the city proceeded unlawfully, that the decision was not supported by t...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying developers' suit against a city challenging its extension of an ordinance restricting development in areas zoned for multifamily residential use. The extension was contrary to law and invalid because the city failed to identify "a ...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court's decision not to interject itself into a city's still ongoing process of preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) for a proposed development project. The developer wanted the lower court to issue a writ of administrative mandamus to compel t...

A California appellate court reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision denying a citizen group's petition to set aside an amendment to a county's general land use plan that altered the definition of "net acreage." Substantial evidence supports a finding that the amendment could ha...