On March 11, 2015, the California Supreme Court unanimously granted the San Diego Association of Governments’ (SANDAG) petition for review of the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. San Diego Association of Governments (2014) 180 Cal.Rptr.3d 548. A complete summary of the case is available here: https://thomaslaw455.wpengine.com/appellate-court-requires-sandag-consider-executive-order-emissions-targets-regional-transportation-plan/, in…

In Saltonstall v. City of Sacramento, 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 150, the California Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s denial of a writ of mandate challenging the environmental impact report (EIR) for an arena in downtown Sacramento (arena project) and held the City of Sacramento (City) did not prematurely commit itself…

In Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley, (March 2, 2015, S201116) __ Cal.4th __ (Berkeley Hillside), in a Majority Opinion joined by five Justices the California Supreme Court provided long awaited guidance on the standards applicable to both lead agencies and courts tasked with interpreting and applying the “unusual circumstances” exception…

In an unpublished opinion in CREED-21 v. City of San Diego, the California Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed in large part the trial court decision granting an injunction and other relief for violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) relating to emergency repair and subsequent revegetation of a hillside and storm drain…

The Thomas Law Group announced today the opening of a new office at the Kaiser Building in Oakland. The expansion comes on the heels of the law firm’s hiring of four new attorneys in 2014 to support the growing environmental and land use law firm.

The new office will be led by Thomas Law Group…

In San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Locke, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 24351, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court and upheld a National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) biological opinion that determined continuing water extractions in the Central Valley would jeopardize several threatened and endangered species. The court also affirmed the district court…

In an unpublished decision, Delucchi v. County of Colusa, 2015 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 231, the California Third District Court of Appeal denied a petition for a writ of mandate challenging Colusa County’s abandonment of purported public rights-of-way and held the abandonment did not constitute a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).…

In an unpublished opinion in Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment v. City of Santa Clarita, 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 8998, the California Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court and denied a petition for a writ of mandate challenging a 185-acre development (the Project) along the Santa Clara…

In a partially published opinion in Friends of the Kings River v. County of Fresno (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 105, the California Court of Appeal for the Fifth District affirmed the denial of a writ of mandate challenging Fresno County’s (the County) environmental review of a 1,500-acre aggregate mine project.

The County initially approved the environmental…