Neighbors of a Marin County rock quarry, which has been the source of complaints and government investigations for years, have failed in their bid to pursue a class action lawsuit against the quarry for allegedly illegal activities.

In a ruling directly at odds with a landmark 1995 decision, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled that local government may not regulate the location of timber harvests.

A wireless telecommunications service provider may seek damages under the federal Civil Rights Act because a city improperly denied the provider a conditional use permit, according to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a unanimous opinion, the state Supreme Court has ruled that a community service district's water connection charge and fire suppression charge are exempt from the restrictions of Proposition 218. The ruling was only the state high court's second in a Proposition 218 case, and

An appellate court has ruled against homeowners who sought to prevent Santa Monica City Council members from making inquiries of staff members other than the city manager. "An injunction to prevent such communication violates the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects ever

An appellate court has upheld an injunction prohibiting the City of Garden Grove from requiring existing cybercafes to get conditional use permits. However, the appellate court removed an injunction against city-imposed operating requirements at the cybercafes.

The City of Wasco has been ordered to pay an attorney that represented the city in complicated bond finance dealings during the mid-1990s. The First District Court of Appeal rejected the city's argument that the payments violated the state constitution's ban on incurring general

In a 2-1 decision with a vigorous dissent, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the State of Oregon's law regulating billboards. The law prohibits new billboards except for "on-premises signs." An Oregon resident said the law violated his First Amendment rights by f

Two decisions by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal appear to bolster local rent control ordinances, although the decisions at least hint at the court's doubt as to whether the state's system for weighing landowners' takings claims is adequate. In separate cases, the Ninth Ci

The City of San Jose did not have to prepare a supplemental environmental impact report for the proposed expansion of a water recycling program because an earlier EIR adequately addressed the issues, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed

In a decision with separate opinions written by all three members of an appellate panel, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a preliminary injunction to block logging on burnt national forest land. The panel ruled 2-1 that opponents of the logging had crossed the t

An initiative passed by Burbank voters that sought to restrict the expansion of Burbank Airport has been struck down by the Second District Court of Appeal. The unanimous three-judge appellate panel ruled that the State Aeronautics Act gives legislative authority for airport expa