This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq.
The petitioner had requested variances from several different zoning requirements, including the regulations for lot area, lot frontage, front yard setbacks, rear yard setbacks, and minimum and total side yard setbacks, which it needed so that it could build a single faming home. The board of zoning appeals (BZA) denied its request for area variances, however, and the Second Department confirmed the BZA’s denial on appeal. As the court explained, there was sufficient evidence to support the BZA’s determination that there would be an undesirable impact on the character of the neighborhood…
“The entire game revolves around these two men dancing around each other. The courtroom battles are like a tango, a back-and-forth exchange.”
That’s how Claire Stenger, senior narrative designer at Gameloft, describes the relationship between Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth. But anyone that’s played Capcom’s Ace Attorney games probably already knew that.
The relationship between the upbeat defense attorney and the aloof prosecutor has become one of the most popular character “ships” in video game fandom. (Shipping has been around since the ’60s heyday of Kirk and Spock, and usually refers to fans’ use of artwork, fanfiction, or memes to…
This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq.
A Massachusetts case decided in August considered the Town of Nantucket’s zoning definitions for “hot tub/spa” and “swimming pool.” Specifically, the zoning code defined a “hot tub/spa” as a structure with less than 150 square feet of surface area and more than two feet of depth, while a “swimming pool” was defined as a structure either with more than 150 square feet of surface area or containing more than 1,000 gallons of water. The definition created a dilemma because of the structure “could at the same time have less than 150 square…
UCLA Extension’s annual Land Use Law and Planning Conference is the leading networking event and source of information on California land use legislation, case law, and the emerging issues that frame land use and development practices in the nation’s most popular state.
The program’s unique cross-disciplinary approach explores the full range of perspectives drawn from land use planning, legal, development, and environmental communities, and demonstrates how these factors influence the day-to-day work of planners, developers, environmental regulators, and attorneys .
Now in its 37th year, the UCLA Extension conference offers a big-picture view of land use law and planning practice,…
Agency Delegation to External Parties: An Unexplored Challenge
Benjamin LehmanThe Supreme Court recently declined to grant cert in Texas v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a case from the 5thth Circuit. However, the three justices said the decision was driven by threshold issues of mootness and statute of limitations, but they would grant a review on the delegation issues in a future case.[1] The case revived two major questions about the constitutional limits on delegation and presented a third issue for the first time. First, the petition challenged the extent to which legislative power can be constitutionally delegated away from…
It’s Time for a Carbon Tax
Andrew ZhangMost Americans are worried about global warming.[1] Unfortunately, our actions do not reflect that worry. In 2019, 6,558 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (the total global warming potential of all greenhouse gases adjusted to the potential of carbon dioxide) were emitted into the atmosphere from the United States, representing a two percent increase from 1990.[2] As a result, emissions have begun to exceed the capacity of natural processes that absorb carbon dioxide.[3] Largely due to human activity, the climate has warmed by 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880.[4]
A carbon tax is…
An attorney on Twitter clapped back at an account closely linked to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that suggested Tuesday’s shattering testimony before the House select committee investigating the US Capitol riot was “all hearsay.”
The House Judiciary Committee Republicans’ account ― which names Jordan as its ranking member in its Twitter bio ― labeled the astonishing testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson as hearsay.
“It’s literally all hearsay evidence. What a joke,” the post on the GOP account said of Hutchinson’s testimony about Donald Trump’s last days as president.
Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of…
This post was authored by Matthew Loescher, Esq.
Property owner Powlette filed a malicious prosecution suit against the township’s zoning code enforcement officer, Carlson, alleging that the officer engaged in intentional and malicious conduct by swearing to a second criminal complaint against the owner for operating a bed and breakfast without a conditional-use certificate after the original complaint against the owner was conditionally dismissed. The Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County, granted the officer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, and Powlette appealed.
After reviewing the pleadings, and construing all material accusations and all reasonable inferences therefrom in favor of…
