dismissed

St. Joseph's High School, Inc. v. Planning & Zoning Commission

Full Case Name
ST. JOSEPH'S HIGH SCHOOL, INC., et al. v. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OF the TOWN OF TRUMBULL
Description

The Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Trumball (Commission) denied the special permit of a private school for the installation of four light poles, seventy feet in height, to illuminate its primary athletic field, after considering concerns from resident neighbors of the private school that allowing the lights would adversely affect the "use and enjoyment" of their properties. The Court vacated the lower court's decision which had allowed the private school's case against the Commission because "a zoning commission has discretion to determine whether a proposal satisfies the requirements for a special permit."

Date
09-19-2017
Court
Connecticut Appellate Court
Jurisdiction
Connecticut
Incident Location
Fairfield, CT
Disputed Act

Plaintiff private school filed an application for a special permit with the Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Trumball (Commission) for the installation of four light poles, seventy feet in height, to illuminate the school’s primary athletic field. The Comission denied the special permit after considering concerns from resident neighbors of the private school that allowing the lights would adversely affect the "use and enjoyment" of their properties.

Holding
The Court vacated the lower court's decision which allowed plaintiff's case against the Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Trumball. The Court remanded the case to the lower court with instructions to dismiss the case because "a zoning commission has discretion to determine whether a proposal satisfies the requirements for a special permit" and "judicial review is confined to the question of whether the commission
abused its discretion in finding that an applicant failed to demonstrate compliance."
Disposition

Okinawa Dugong v. Mattis

Full Case Name
OKINAWA DUGONG (DUGONG DUGON), et al., Plaintiffs, v. James N MATTIS, et al., Defendants.
Description

The Department of Defense (DOD) approved the construction of a military base in Okinawa. Japanese groups brought action against DOD for not considering the impact on the Okinawa dugong, including night lighting. The Court held that DOD did not violate the National Historic Preservation Act by not consulting directly with Plaintiffs, or by relying on academic experts instead of cultural practitioners. The Court also found that DOD's determination that the construction would not negatively affect the dugong was not arbitrary or capricious. The Court dismissed the case.

Date
08-01-2018
Court
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Jurisdiction
United States
Plaintiffs
Incident Location
Okinawa, Japan
Disputed Act

The US Department of Defense (DOD) approved the construction of a new military base in Okinawa. Japanese citizens and organizations brought action against the DOD for not considering the impact on the Okinawa dugong. Construction activities would require night lighting, which the Japanese environmental impact statement anticipated would not negatively affect the dugongs because the project would take preventive measures such as lighting cones.

Holding
The Court held that DOD did not violate the National Historic Preservation Act by not consulting directly with Plaintiffs about the impact on the dugong, or by relying on academic experts instead of cultural practitioners. The Court also found that DOD's determination that the construction would not negatively affect the dugong was not arbitrary or capricious.
Disposition

Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Env't v. Jewell

Full Case Name
DINÉ CITIZENS AGAINST RUINING OUR ENVIRONMENT; San Juan Citizens Alliance; WildEarth Guardians; and Natural Resources Defense Council, Plaintiffs, v. Sally JEWELL, in her official capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior; United States Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the United States Department of the Interior; and Neil Kornze, in his official capacity as Director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, Defendants, and WPX Energy Production, LLC; Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.; BP America Company; ConocoPhillips Company; Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP; American Petroleum Institute; and Anschutz Exploration Corporation, Intervenor-Defendants.
Description

Environmental activists brought action against the federal government challenging Bureau of Land Management's approval of applications for drill permits in the San Juan Basin as in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Court held BLM's approval of applications did not violate NEPA nor NHPA, and dismissed the case.

Date
04-23-2018
Court
United States District Court for the District of New Mexico
Jurisdiction
United States
Incident Location
San Juan County, NM; McKinley County, NM
Disputed Act

Environmental activists brought action against federal government challenging the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval of applications for permit to drill in the San Juan Basin, alleging that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to analyze indirect effects of fracking on Chaco Park, a National Historic site, including light pollution from nighttime drilling activity.

Holding
The Court found that the Board of Land Management's approval of applications for drilling permits did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act and failure to consider effects of gas and oil wells in Chaco Park and satellites did not violate the National Historic Preservation Act.
Disposition

Town of Superior v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service

Full Case Name
The TOWN OF SUPERIOR, a Colorado municipality, City of Golden, Colorado, WildEarth Guardians, Rocky Mountain Wild, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, United States Department of the Interior, Ken Salazar, acting in his official capacity as Secretary of the Interior, Daniel M. Ashe, acting in official capacity as Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Steve Guertin, acting in his official capacity as Regional Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Steve Berendzen, acting in his official capacity as Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Manager, Defendants, and The Board of County Commissioners of the County of Jefferson, Colorado, City of Arvada, Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority, Natural Resource Trustees of the State of Colorado, and the Board of Land Commissioners of the State of Colorado, Defendant-Intervenors
Description

The Court found that, in approving the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority’s proposal, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service complied with the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Rocky Flats Act, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act.

Date
12-21-2012
Court
United States District Court for the District of Colorado
Jurisdiction
United States
Incident Location
Jefferson, CO; Boulder, CO; Broomfield, CO
Disputed Act

Plaintiffs alleged that the approval by the defendant United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) of the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority (JPPHA) application violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Rocky Flats Act, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act. Plaintiffs sought an order holding unlawful and setting aside the FWS’ decision to enter into the land exchange and transfer the corridor to JPPHA. The plaintiffs' concerns about the highway include "increased noise and artificial light" which could negatively impact wildlife by "interfering with the ability to avoid danger, locate food, reproduce, migrate, avoid collisions, and evade predators."

Holding
The Court found that, in approving the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority’s proposal, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service complied with the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Rocky Flats Act, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act. The Court dismissed the case.
Disposition

Powell v. County of Humboldt

Full Case Name
SCOTT POWELL et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. COUNTY OF HUMBOLDT, Defendant and Respondent
Description

The Court found that the proposed overflight easement of plaintiffs' property, granting Humboldt County the right to, among other things, "regulate or prohibit light emissions that might interfere with pilot vision" as a condition for plaintiffs obtaining a building permit to make "minor alterations to their residence," did not as a matter of law effect a taking under Fifth Amendment jurisprudence or California law, and the plaintiffs failed to come forward with evidence sufficient to establish the practical effect of the easement was to bring about such a taking. The Court dismissed the case.

Date
01-16-2014
Court
Court of Appeal of the State of California
Jurisdiction
California
Plaintiffs
Defendants
Incident Location
Humboldt County, CA
Disputed Act

Plaintiffs, whose property is located within a zone over which aircraft from Arcata-Eureka Airport routinely fly, challenge the constitutionality of a Humboldt County general plan requirement that they provide an aircraft overflight easement as a condition for obtaining a building permit to make minor alterations to their residence, arguing that the easement requirement constitutes a taking of their property without payment of just compensation. The overflight easement grants the County the right to, among other things, "regulate or prohibit light emissions that might interfere with pilot vision."

Holding
The Court held that provisions of an overflight easement regulating or prohibiting the plaintiffs' release of substances into the air, as well as light and electrical emissions from their property, did not constitute a taking. The Court found that the overflight easement did not as a matter of law effect a taking of the plaintiffs' private property or airspace
under Fifth Amendment jurisprudence or California law, and the plaintiffs failed to come
forward with evidence sufficient to either establish the practical effect of the easement
was to bring about such a taking, or to demonstrate there are triable issues of material fact
with respect to that question.
Disposition

Lindquist v. City of Pasadena

Full Case Name
James and Sandra LINDQUIST, Plaintiffs, v. The CITY OF PASADENA, TEXAS, Defendant
Description

The City's Motor Vehicle Dealers Ordinance set boundaries about how close used-car dealerships can be to residential areas in order to curb any detrimental effects on the surrounding residential communities, including nighttime glare and light pollution. The plaintiffs, owners of a used-car dealership, sued the City for denying their dealership's license, alleging an equal protection claim against the City for treating their dealership differently than others. The Court found there was not sufficient evidence for an equal protection claim and dismissed the case.

Date
09-10-2009
Court
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Jurisdiction
United States
Plaintiffs
Defendants
Incident Location
Pasadena, TX
Disputed Act

The City amended its Motor Vehicle Dealers Ordinance, which required used-car dealers to obtain a license for each location at which they sell cars and set boundaries about how close used-car dealerships can be to residential areas. The Ordinance stated in its preamble that its purpose was to curb any detrimental effects on the surrounding residential communities, including nighttime glare and light pollution. The City denied the plaintiffs a license under the amended Ordinance, the plaintiffs appealed, and the City denied that appeal. The plaintiffs sued the City, alleging that the denial of their license-application appeal violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States and Texas Constitutions.

Holding
The Court found that the plaintiffs "failed to show that the City exercised unbridled discretion in refusing their appeal" while granting others' appeals and that they "failed to raise a genuine fact issue material to determining whether the City intentionally treated them differently from other similarly situated persons without a rational basis." The Court found that even if the City did not follow all the Ordinance requirements, it followed the purpose of the Ordinance. The Court dismissed the case.
Disposition

Grand Canyon Trust v. Williams

Full Case Name
GRAND CANYON TRUST, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Michael WILLIAMS, et al., Defendants
Description

The Court found that plaintiffs failed to establish a violation under the National Environmental Policy Act by the United States Forest Service for re-opening the "Canyon mine, and that the plaintiffs lacked standing to assert that the "valid existing rights determination" by the Forest Service failed to consider all relevant cost factors. The Court dismissed the case.

Date
04-07-2015
Court
United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Jurisdiction
United States
Incident Location
Coconino County, AZ
Disputed Act

Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the United States Forest Service from re-opening the "Canyon Mine" in Northern Arizona, alleging that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and that the "valid existing rights determination" by the Forest Service failed to consider all relevant cost factors. Plaintiff's concerns about the re-opening of the mine involve environmental and historical impacts of the mine on Indigenous land surrounding the mine, as well as dust, truck traffic, light pollution and noise.

Holding
The Court found that plaintiffs failed to establish a violation under the National Environmental Policy Act by the United States Forest Service for re-opening the "Canyon mine, and that the plaintiffs lacked standing to assert that the "valid existing rights determination" by the Forest Service failed to consider all relevant cost factors. The Court dismissed the case.
Disposition

Litton International Development Corp. v. City of Simi Valley

Full Case Name
LITTON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Petitioner and Plaintiff, v. CITY OF SIMI VALLEY, the City Council of the City of Simi Valley, Robert O. Huber, Ann Rock, Clyde Evans, Vicky Howard and Greg Stratton, Respondents and Defendants
Description

The Court found that the City of Simi Valley's decision to amend the General Plan designation of the parcel that plaintiff had purchased from "General Commerical with a Hotel/Motel Node" to residential was not arbitrary or unreasonable, and so was constitutional under both state and federal law. The Court dismissed the case.

Date
07-05-1985
Court
United States District Court for the Central District of California
Jurisdiction
United States
Plaintiffs
Defendants
Incident Location
Simi Valley, CA
Disputed Act

After plaintiff company purchased a parcel of land in the City of Simi Valley, plaintiff was denied a permit by the City to develop the property into a hotel. The City had concerns about the effects of noise, lights, and possible night-time disturbance to the residential area near the parcel if the parcel was developed commercially. The City then amended its General Plan so that the parcel could only be used for residential development. Plaintiff company challenged this redesignation as unconstitutional and in violation of state law.

Holding
The Court found that the City of Simi Valley's decision to amend the General Plan designation of the parcel that plaintiff had purchased from "General Commerical with a Hotel/Motel Node" to residential was not arbitrary or unreasonable, and so was constitutional under both state and federal law. The Court dismissed the case.
Disposition

Dewberry v. Kulongoski

Full Case Name
Susan DEWBERRY, Carole Holcombe, Suzanne Danielson, Arnold Buchman, Don Heath, and Dale Schaffner, Plaintiffs, v. The Honorable Theodore R. KULONGOSKI, Governor of the State of Oregon, Other Executive Officers in the State of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, Defendants
Description

A group of individual plaintiffs challenged the validity of the gaming compact entered into by the State of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (the Tribes), which allowed development of the Hatch Tract by the Tribes for gaming purposes. The Court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing and dismissed the case.

Date
12-21-2005
Court
United States District Court for the District of Oregon
Jurisdiction
United States
Plaintiffs
Defendants
Incident Location
Florence, Oregon
Disputed Act

A group of individual plaintiffs challenged the validity of the gaming compact entered into by the State of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (the Tribes), which allowed development of the Hatch Tract by the Tribes for gaming purposes. The plaintiffs alleged that they would be harmed by the Tribes' casino on the Hatch Tract through higher taxes, reduced property values, increased traffic congestion, increased air, noise and light pollution, and the detrimental effect on local businesses.

Holding
The District Court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Tribes' right to conduct gaming under the State of Oregon's gaming compact. The Court further held that the Tribes had not waived their sovereign immunity and had not consented to the suit. The Court dismissed the case.
Disposition