California Court of Appeal Provides Clarity On What Triggers Supplemental Analysis Under California Environmental Quality Act
July 20, 2020 —
Kelly Alhadeff-Black & Alexander N. Knaub - Lewis BrisboisIn a recent ruling, California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal clarified the need for supplemental environmental analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Willow Glen Trestle Conservancy v. City of San Jose (6th Dist., May 18, 2020). Specifically, the court held that seeking additional discretionary approvals, such as regulatory permits, does not constitute a “new discretionary approval for the project” under the California Public Resources Code Section 21166 and the California Code of Regulations, title 14, section 15162 (the CEQA Guidelines).
In 2014, the City of San Jose approved a project that included the demolition and replacement of a wooden railroad bridge known as the Willow Glen Trestle (the Project). CEQA review for the Project was conducted via mitigated negative declaration (MND). The Project was quickly challenged by a local group called Friends of the Willow Glen Trestle, alleging that the City should have prepared an Environmental Impact Report based on the allegation that the Willow Glen Trestle constituted an historic resource for CEQA purposes. Ultimately, the City prevailed in that litigation (See Friends of the Willow Glen Trestle v. City of San Jose, et al. (6th Dist., 2016), which remanded the case to the trial court for further review consistent with the Court of Appeal’s verdict) with the court eventually finding that the City correctly analyzed and answered the question of historic resource classification and significance in reference to the Willow Glen Trestle.
Reprinted courtesy of
Kelly Alhadeff-Black, Lewis Brisbois and
Alexander N. Knaub, Lewis Brisbois
Ms. Alhadeff-Black may be contacted at Kelly.Black@lewisbrisbois.com
Mr. Knaub may be contacted at Alexander.Knaub@lewisbrisbois.com
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New York High Court: “Issued or Delivered” Includes Policies Insuring Risks in New York
December 20, 2017 —
Bethany Barrese & Samantha Martino - Case Alert BlogOn November 20th, the New York Court of Appeals reinstated a case seeking more than six million dollars in damages against the insurers for DHL Worldwide Express Inc. (“DHL”), originating from a fatal head-on car crash between Claudia Carlson and a truck owned by MVP Delivery and Logistics Inc. (“MVP”), a DHL contractor. The truck, which bore DHL’s logo, was owned by MVP and driven by an MVP employee. The MVP employee was running an errand unrelated to his job at the time of the accident. Mrs. Carlson’s husband sued the employee, DHL, and MVP. The jury award of $20 million was reduced to $7.3 million by the Appellate Division. MVP’s insurer paid Mr. Carlson just over $1 million, and the employee assigned his rights to any other insurance coverage to Mr. Carlson
Mr. Carlson sued DHL and its insurers, seeking the balance of the outstanding judgment pursuant to New York Insurance Law § 3420. The defendants successfully moved to dismiss Mr. Carlson’s claims, which dismissal was affirmed by the Appellate Division on the basis that § 3420 did not apply since the policies in question were not “issued or delivered” in New York; they had been issued in New Jersey and delivered in Washington and Florida. The Court of Appeals was subsequently presented with two questions: (1) whether the DHL policies fell within the purview of Insurance Law § 3420 as policies “issued or delivered” in New York; and (2) whether MVP was an “insured” pursuant to the “hired auto” provisions of DHL’s policies.
Reprinted courtesy of
Bethany Barrese, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. and
Samantha Martino, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Ms. Barrese may be contacted at blb@sdvlaw.com
Ms. Martino may be contacted at smm@sdvlaw.com
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Effective Zoning Reform Isn’t as Simple as It Seems
July 03, 2022 —
Yonah Freemark & Lydia Lo - BloombergThe Biden Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan, unveiled last week, aims to help close America’s shortfall of almost 4 million housing units and subdue the nation’s skyrocketing home prices. At the top of its list of action items is a promise to provide federal grants as a reward to communities that alter land-use policies to promote density, an approach the administration is already piloting.
But identifying the land-use policies that most effectively add housing is harder than it seems. Mounting evidence indicates that one-off reforms such as eliminating single-family-only zoning aren’t adequate. To make meaningful progress in building homes, municipalities have to do more.
The Biden plan doesn’t detail how it will determine which types of policies will make a community eligible for these federal grants. But to meet the administration’s housing goals, we recommend it require that local governments seeking grants both show that their zoning changes are actually producing additional housing units, and also that their reforms include the full array of land-use policies that affect housing affordability.
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Bloomberg
Insurance Policy to Protect Hawaii's Coral Reefs
December 26, 2022 —
Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law HawaiiThe New York Times recently reported on an insurance policy issued to the non-profit Nature Conservancy to protect coral reefs in Hawaii. Cihistopher Flavelle, Catrin Einhorn, In a First, Nonprofit Buys Insurance for Hawaii's Threatened Coral Reefs, N.Y. Times, Nov. 21, 2022.
If damaged by a storm, coral reefs need immediate attention if they are going to recover. The Nature Conservancy plans a four step process to save damaged reefs:
- Purchase a policy for all 400,000 acres of coral reefs surrounding the Hawaii island.
- If reefs are sufficiently damaged by a storm the policy will pay out within two weeks.
- The Nature Conservancy will ask the State of Hawaii, owner of the reefs, for a permit to repair the storm damage.
- Finally, if the state officials issue the permit, the insurance proceeds will pay teams of divers to repair the damage. Crews will have about six weeks before coral begins to die.
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Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak HastertMr. Eyerly may be contacted at
te@hawaiilawyer.com
Update: New VOSH Maximum Penalties as of July 1
July 26, 2017 —
Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law MusingsAs those who read Construction Law Musings know, as a construction attorney, I want to assure that not only are my clients successful in their litigation/dispute resolution endeavors, but that they stay out of trouble. I take my problem solving and advising roles quite seriously.
As part of this role as advisor, I want to let those that read Musings know that as of July 1, 2017 the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration increased their maximum penalties for safety violations.
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Christopher G. Hill, The Law Office of Christopher G. HillMr. Hill may be contacted at
chrisghill@constructionlawva.com
Real Estate & Construction News Round-Up (05/11/22)
May 30, 2022 —
Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogThe supply of homes for sale is on the uptick, the White House releases a plan to improve the permitting process for infrastructure projects, cryptocurrency opens the door to a new class of property owners, and more.
- Though the number of active listings is still down 67% from pre-pandemic levels, the supply of homes for sale is finally showing signs of improvement. (Diana Olick, CNBC)
- Large corporations and institutional investors are flocking to buy digital real estate, with parcels being bought faster than they can be created. (Dan Patterson, CBS News)
- London-based company, Admix, has been purchasing real estate in various Metaverse platforms and leasing them to companies interested in becoming involved in the online virtual space. (Nate Berg, Fast Company)
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Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team
Flood-Threat Assessment Finds Danger Goes Far Beyond U.S. Homes
October 18, 2021 —
Leslie Kaufman, Rachael Dottle & Mira Rojanasakul - BloombergIf the floods don’t get you, lack of electricity or a swamped hospital might.
Nearly a quarter of U.S. critical infrastructure—utilities, airports, police stations and more—is at risk of being inundated by flooding, according to a new report by First Street Foundation, a Brooklyn nonprofit dedicated to making climate risk more visible to the public.
Around 25% of national critical infrastructure is at risk.
Roughly 14% of Americans’ properties face direct risk from major storms, but the study shows danger extends far from those property lines.
Reprinted courtesy of
Leslie Kaufman, Bloomberg,
Rachael Dottle, Bloomberg and
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Not So Unambiguous: California Court of Appeal Finds Coverage for Additional Insured
October 11, 2017 —
Malcom Ranger-Murdock - Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal recently determined that manuscript additional insured endorsements (AIEs), which purportedly provided coverage for ongoing operations only, were ambiguous. The court also found the insurer that issued the policies, American Safety Indemnity Co. (American Safety), acted in bad faith due to its systematic efforts to deny coverage to general contractors as additional insureds.
In Pulte Home Corp. v. American Safety Indemnity Co.,1 Pulte Home Corporation (Pulte Home), a general contractor, sued American Safety for failure to defend Pulte Home as an additional insured in connection with two underlying construction defect lawsuits. American Safety contended that it did not have a duty to defend Pulte Home because the loss occurred after the construction project was complete and the applicable AIEs did not provide coverage for completed operations, and/or because the policy’s faulty workmanship exclusions applied. The trial court awarded $1.4 million in compensatory and punitive damages to Pulte Home, and American Safety appealed.
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Malcom Ranger-Murdock, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.Mr. Ranger-Murdock may be contacted at
mrm@sdvlaw.com