Real Property eNews

Farmland Protection Alliance v. County of Yolo (2021) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2021 WL 5103355: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's decision directing defendant to set aside its decision to adopt a revised mitigated negative declaration and issue a conditional use permit to real parties in interest Field & Pond, Dahvie James, and Philip Watt (real parties in interest) to operate a bed and breakfast and commercial event facility supported by onsite crop production intended to provide visitors with an education in agricultural operations (project). Read more

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, on October 28, 2021 the CLA Real Property Law Section once again joined forces with the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers to revive their traditional joint fall networking event titled the “Funky Fall Soiree” at the Loma Club in San Diego. Read more

Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power v. County of Inyo (2021) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2021 WL 3629227: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's order granting a peremptory writ of mandate in an action alleging violations by respondent of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Public Resources Code, section 21000 et seq.) arising from use of condemnation proceedings to acquire fee simple title to three sites that respondent leased and used for landfills and respondent's continued operation of the landfills. Read more

The Real Property Law Section of the California Lawyers Association has organized Practice Area Committees (PACs) to focus on specific areas of real property law. Each month, E-News will highlight a different PAC. Read more

Engineers and fact finders are investigating the specific causes of the failure(s) and responsible parties for the sudden and unexpected collapse of the 40 year-old Champlain Tower condominium structure. Concurrently therewith, “interested parties” (whether for altruistic or business development purposes) are meeting and developing language for their legislator of choice to propose this January. As an industry and as humans we are quick to blame certain individuals. Instead, I invite you (and our legislature) to focus on mitigating some obvious systemic problems within community associations which cause predictable failures. Read more

The current chairs of the CLA RPLS “Brokers & Licensees” and “Real Estate Financing” practice area groups have announced their intention to step down, and the executive committee has started its search for new leadership candidates. Read more

Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power v. County of Inyo (2021) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2021 WL 3629227: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's order granting a peremptory writ of mandate in an action alleging violations by respondent of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Public Resources Code, section 21000 et seq.) arising from use of condemnation proceedings to acquire fee simple title to three sites that respondent leased and used for landfills and respondent's continued operation of the landfills. Read more

The Real Property Law Section of the California Lawyers Association has organized Practice Area Committees (PACs) to focus on specific areas of real property law. Each month, E-News will highlight a different PAC. Read more

It is with great sadness that the CLA-RPLS announces that its member and regular contributor Joshua (Josh) Genser, passed away on August 23, 2021 from a sudden heart attack. As is reflected in his article submitted for this issue of the e-news, Josh was a curious mind, a smart problem solver, and a tenacious advocate. Read more

California has a “Summary Proceeding” for dealing with Stop Notice Claims on public works, that is supposed to be a faster, more efficient means of determining the merits of a Stop Notice Claim than would be litigating the claimant’s lawsuit to enforce the Stop Notice. Although the procedure has been a feature of California law for several years, it has been, in my experience and in that of several experienced construction law attorneys to whom I have spoken, rarely, if ever used. So, I decided to try it. Read more