This controversy arose after the City of Los Angeles refused to accept Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates’s application to convert its 170-unit mobilehome park from tenant occupancy to resident ownership because Palisades Bowl had failed to include … Continue reading
This case involved a dispute between Los Angeles County (County) and forty-seven cities (Cities) within County regarding how County calculated and imposed property tax administration fees on Cities for their share of County’s costs in administering the property tax system. Cities petitioned the trial court for a writ of administrative mandate ordering County and its auditor-controller to reimburse Cities for the amount disputed in fiscal year 2006-2007. Following a trial, the referee ruled that County’s method of calculating the disputed fee was consistent with legislative intent and did not violate Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code 97.75. The court of appeal reversed, relying almost exclusively on the plain meaning of section 97.75 to conclude that County’s method of calculation was unlawful. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that County’s method of calculating property tax administration fees violated the statutory scheme. View “City of Alhambra v. County of Los Angeles” on Justia Law
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Prison regulations promulgated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) provide that validation of an inmate as a gang member or associate can result in the inmate’s placement in a security housing unit. The current dispute… Continue reading
This case stemmed from the county’s determination that a proposed building project was categorically exempt from compliance with environmental law requirements. At issue was a statutory provision stating that a public agency’s approval of a proposed pr… Continue reading
The Enterprise Zone Act, Gov. Code, 7070 et seq., was enacted “to stimulate business and industrial growth” in “areas within the state that are economically depressed due to a lack of a private sector.” Among the incentives available to businesses that operated within an enterprise zone was a hiring tax credit in the amount of a percentage of the wages paid to a “qualified employee.” Rev. & Tax. Code, 23622.7, subd. (a). The Franchise Tax Board conducted an audit and refused to accept some of the certifications that Dicon claimed for a hiring tax credit. The Board found that the documents Dicon produced to establish that workers were “qualified employees” were insufficient and denied the requested tax credit in part. The court reversed the appellate court’s holding that a certification issued by a governmental agency for purposes of the hiring tax credit under section 23622.7 constituted “prima facie proof a worker is a ‘qualified employee,’” which shifted to the Board the “burden of demonstrating an employee is not a qualified worker for which no voucher should have issued.” In all other respects, the Board did not challenge the appellate court’s judgment and the judgment was affirmed. View “Dicon Fiberoptics v. Franchise Tax Bd.” on Justia Law
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This case arose from litigation challenging the validity, under the United States Constitution, of the initiative measure (Proposition 8) that added a section to the California Constitution providing that “[o]nly marriage between a man and a woman is v… Continue reading
This case stemmed from the taking of property in downtown Los Angeles to comply with a federal court order to improve the quality of bus services and involved California’s “quick-take” eminent domain procedure, Code of Civil Procedure 1255.010, 1244.41… Continue reading
Plaintiff, an environmental organization, filed this administrative mandamus action to challenge the issuance of a federally required permit authorizing the Moss Landing Powerplant (MLPP) to draw cooling water from the adjacent Moss Landing Harbor and … Continue reading
In this case, the court construed Labor Code section 4659(c), which provided for the annual indexing of two categories of workers’ compensation benefits, total permanent disability and life pension payments, to yearly increases in the state’s average w… Continue reading
This case involved serious allegations against Robert E. Stark, the auditor-controller of Sutter County where the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office claimed that Stark violated statutes, county rules, and Sutter County Board of Supervisors (Board… Continue reading