A Win for Public Health: Oil Wells Stalled in Arvin
Together with the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, the firm represents the Committee for a Better Arvin in a successful challenge to the City of Arvin’s approval of oil wells that would have threatened public health in a residential neighborhood. (Committee for a Better Arvin v. City of Arvin (2019).)
Limits on Lead and Cadmium in Chocolate
In 2018, on behalf of As You Sow, the firm settles its Proposition 65 case against the leading chocolate companies over lead and cadmium in chocolate products. The settlement establishes limits on the amount of lead and cadmium in these products and convened an expert panel to identify methods for reducing these levels.
No Vested Right to Quarry Expansion
The firm succeeds in the court of appeal in a case challenging Mendocino County’s approval of a large expansion of a quarry. (Keep the Code v. Mendocino County (2018).) The court agreed with the firm’s position that quarry activities occurring almost 50 years earlier did not establish a vested right to expand the mine.
SMW Defeats New Railyard Next to Disadvantaged Long Beach Community
The City of Long Beach, represented by the firm and joined by five other petitioner groups and the Attorney General, prevails in a CEQA challenge to the controversial “SCIG” railyard, whose air pollution threatened the health of nearby residents and schoolchildren. The court of appeal orders the approval rescinded. (City of Long Beach v. City […]
Halting Sprawl on the Suburban Fringe
The firm’s lawsuit stops the City of Highland’s Harmony Specific Plan, which would have scattered development across a floodplain and required a bridge over — and in — a sensitive creek at the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains. (Greenspot Residents Association v. City of Highland (2018).)
SMW Drafts and Defends Ballot Measure to Protect San Jose’s General Plan
In 2018, on behalf of the City of San Jose, the firm drafts and defends a first-of-its kind charter amendment to prevent a developer-sponsored initiative from gutting the City’s General Plan.
Capitola Trestle Initiative Upheld
Photo Credit: Will Mayall Capitola residents submit an initiative to ensure that the Capitola Trestle will be preserved and maintained for bicyclists and pedestrians. The firm successfully defends the measure in a pre-election challenge brought by the City (City of Capitola v. Fridy). Capitola voters pass the initiative in November 2018.
Appellate Court Strikes Down Development Agreement Initiative
The firm and Earthjustice prevail in challenging an initiative that purported to approve a development agreement for the World Logistics Center, a massive warehouse project near low-income communities in Riverside County. The court of appeal holds that local initiatives may not be used to adopt development agreements. (Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice v. […]
Voting Rights Protected in Arizona
Following litigation by the firm, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, the State of Arizona agrees to change its overly burdensome and illegal requirement that voters provide documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections. (League of United Latin American Citizens v. Arizona Secretary of State.)
Historic Post Office Saved
The firm successfully defends the City of Berkeley’s Civic Center Historic District and protects the historic Berkeley Main Post Office from conversion to a commercial use. (U.S. Postal Service v. City of Berkeley (2018).)