This case presents a situation familiar to our district courts. Two related lawsuits are pending — one each in state and federal court. The state action seeks to determine a defendant’s liability for an alleged harm, and the federal action seeks only a declaratory judgment on an insurer’s obligation to defend and indemnify the defendant. The District Court here exercised its discretion to abstain

Plaintiffs are former arbitrators
for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. In 2011,
plaintiffs and another arbitrator brought a due process action
challenging the implementation of House Bill 1698, a workers’
compensation reform statute that had terminated their sixyear
appointments under prior law. The district court granted
summary judgment for defendants, and w

High Mountain Ranch Group, LLP (High Mountain), filed a petition for declaratory judgment against Elbert L. Niece, GT Land LP (GT Land), Mary Hernandez,1 and the Estate of Manuel Saucedo, Sr. (Saucedo), among others,2 seeking a judgment determining that the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions (DCRs) on Lot 34 in Austin’s Glenbrook Addition3 is illegal, void, and/or unenforceable, and alterna

The Orange County Water District (District) was created by the California
Legislature to protect and manage groundwater supplies within its territory, which covers
most of Orange County, California. The District and other regulatory agencies have long
been aware of localized groundwater contamination caused by hazardous substance
releases at various sites in the so-called "South Ba

Defendants Jennifer Dessel and her daughter, Emily Seal, were half-owners of an
investment property; plaintiff Gayle S. Cummings owned the other half. After disputes
arose, Cummings sued seeking partition of the property. Following a bench trial, and
over the objection of Dessel and Seal, the court ordered partition of the property by the
appraisal method—that is, each half-owner c

After winter storms damaged the seawall protecting their blufftop
properties, homeowners sought a permit from the California Coastal Commission
(Commission) to build a new seawall and repair their beach access stairway. The
Commission granted the permit subject to several mitigation conditions. The
owners filed an administrative mandate petition objecting to two conditions but

Chicago, IL - Justice Department and City of Des Plaines, Illinois Settle Lawsuit Over Alleged RLUIPA Violations

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with the City of Des Plaines, Illinois, to resolve allegations that the City violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied a rezoning application to allow The Society of Amer

The issue in this land use case is whether the Land
Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) properly deferred to Lane
County’s interpretation of the meaning of “accessory” use
and development as used in the county’s forestland zoning
regulation. Under ORS 197.829(1), LUBA must affirm
a county’s interpretation of its land use regulations unless
that interpretation is inconsistent with t

Jackson, MS - Justice Department and City of Jackson, Mississippi Resolve Lawsuit Over Zoning of Group Homes

The Justice Department today announced a settlement with the City of Jackson, Mississippi to resolve allegations that the city violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by preventing people in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse from li

On March 24, 2016, Appellant Kenneth Holmes was arrested on one count
of Complicity to Commit Robbery, a felony of the third degree.
{¶4} On March 28, 2016, an initial appearance was held wherein the trial court
set bond at $75,000.
{¶5} On April 4, 2016, a preliminary hearing was held and the trial court bound
the case over to the Stark County Grand Jury.
{¶6} On M

Newark, NJ - Justice Department and Bernards Township (NJ) Settle Lawsuit Over Alleged RLUIPA Violations

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with Bernards Township, New Jersey, to resolve allegations that the Township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied zoning approval to allow the Islamic Society of Basking Rid

Appellant Morgan Hill Hotel Coalition (Coalition) appeals from the superior
court’s order granting a mandate petition brought by respondent City of Morgan Hill
(City) and removing from the June 2016 ballot Coalition’s referendum challenging City’s
ordinance changing the zoning for a parcel owned by respondent River Park Hospitality
(River Park). Although Coalition’s referendum had

This is one of several lawsuits Friends of Outlet Creek (Friends) is pursuing in an
effort to prevent asphalt production at the site of an aggregate operation. The Mendocino
County Air Quality Management District (District) and Grist Creek Aggregates, LLC
(Grist Creek) successfully demurred on the ground Friends can only proceed against the
District in an administrative mandamus pr

In this suit under the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 (SMARA)
(Pub. Resources Code § 2710 et. seq.),1 plaintiffs Joe and Yvette Hardesty (collectively,
Hardesty), attack findings by the State Mining and Geology Board (Board). The Board’s
disputed findings conclude there are no vested rights to surface mine at the Big Cut Mine
in El Dorado County (County, not a party her

BY THE COURT:
It is ordered that the opinion filed herein on March 30, 2017, be modified as follows:

On page 18, in the first full paragraph, delete the second and third sentences
entirely and the first word of the fourth sentence, so that the fourth sentence now begins:
“As argued by the County below, . . .” The first full paragraph now reads: “In its
reply brief, Aptos C

In 2006, the City of San Diego (City) obtained a Site Development Permit (SDP)
to construct a new lifeguard station on Mission Beach. The SDP stated that failure to
2
utilize the permit within 36 months of its issuance would automatically void the permit.
Over the ensuing years, the City worked to secure a permit from the California Coastal
Commission (Commission) and to obtai

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Health & Saf. Code,
§ 38500 et seq.) established the first comprehensive greenhouse gas regulatory program
in the United States. Its goal is to progressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels by 2020. The State Air Resources Board (ARB) was charged with achieving this
goal. One of its actions was promulgating the low

Petitioner Kenneth Thomas appeals from judgments
of the circuit court dismissing his petition for a writ
of review and his second amended complaint seeking a
declaratory judgment.1 The proceedings arise out of petitioner’s
objections to an order of the Wasco County Board
of Commissioners granting a permit for an “outdoor mass
gathering” to petitioner’s neighbor. ORS 433.750

Petitioner seeks judicial review of an order by the
Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) affirming the adoption
of two ordinances by respondent Jackson County. Those ordinances
amended the county’s Land Development Ordinance
(LDO) to establish, among other things, the types of land on
which medical and commercial marijuana cultivation would
be permitted. In the first of her two

This appeal concerns the application of the statute
of limitations to a complaint for medical malpractice involving
newly added defendants. Plaintiff alleged that negligent
treatment of low sodium levels in his blood serum caused
him to develop a neurological disorder, central pontine
myelinolysis (CPM). Invoking ORCP 21 A(9),1 defendants
moved to dismiss the complaint as b

In October 2013 Defendant pled no contest to residential burglary, a third
18 degree felony, and larceny, a fourth-degree felony, offenses committed in November
19 2012 when Defendant was nineteen years old. For those offenses, Defendant received
2
1 a conditional discharge, contingent upon his successful completion of five years’
2 probation and repayment of up to $1,417 in r

The City of Newport Beach (the City) approved a project for the
development of a parcel known as Banning Ranch. Banning Ranch Conservancy
(BRC) opposed the project and sought a writ of mandate to set aside the approval.
It alleged two grounds for relief: (1) the environmental impact report (EIR) was
inadequate, and (2) the City violated a general plan provision by failing to work

The Unit Owners Association of BuildAmerica-1, a condominium, filed its bill to enforce liens recorded against condominium units owned by Harry F. Gillman and Saundra K. Gillman based upon fines it had levied for alleged violations by them of its rules and regulations. It also sought to enjoin the Gillmans from bringing their garbage trucks onto the common elements of the condominium. The Gillman

Several Kentucky residents sued to stop a company from building
a cell-phone tower near their homes. They allege tort claims based on their concern that the
*This decision was originally filed as an unpublished opinion on January 30, 2017. The court has now
designated the opinion for full-text publication.
>
No. 16-5524 Robbins, et al. v. New Cingular Wireless Page 2
tower

We are called upon to determine whether the admission into
evidence of a map, prepared and adopted by a governmental entity
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-7.1(e), violates the Confrontation
Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
and the analogous New Jersey constitutional provision, which
guarantee an accused “the right . . . to be confronted with the