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Mountainlands Conservancy, LLC, et al. v. California Coastal Commission, et al.

Paid petition · Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, No. B287079 · judgment April 1, 2020

Certiorari denied · February 22, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

  1. When the California Coastal Commission’s certification of the County of Los Angeles’ local coastal program imposed a complete ban on the establishment of all future vineyards in the Santa Monica Mountains, did it deprive Petitioners (as property owners) of rights secured by the United States Constitution? For example: a. Were Petitioners’ rights to procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution violated when the California Coastal Commission gave 24-hours’ notice of its 176- page modifications to the Local Coastal Program, switching from a complete ban of all future crop-based agriculture to a ban on the establishment of all future vineyards in the Santa Monica Mountains in perpetuity? b. Were Petitioners’ rights to substantive and procedural due process also violated by the California Coastal Commission’s application and interpretation of state statutes and regulations governing “amendment of a certified local coastal program,” where no certified local coastal program existed for the Santa Monica Mountains and by calling it an “amendment,” the Commission could avoid a mandated “substantial issue” determination and a separate public hearing?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Dawn Cushman
Bradley & Gmelich LLP

For respondent
Christina Bull Arndt
Office of the Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 22 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 27 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/19/2021.
  3. Jan 14 2021
    Waiver of right of respondents California Coastal Commission, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Dec 14 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 19, 2021)