February 2015
In This Issue
Quick Links  
 
Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

View our videos on YouTube

Greetings!

    

PLF is off to a fast start in 2015.  As you will read in this issue, we defeated government efforts to squash two key cases in Florida and Virginia. Meanwhile, we are helping a New Jersey senior citizen battle state officials who want to take away his property to build a casino.  At the national level, PLF has joined the fight against what may be the largest expansion of power ever proposed by a federal agency.

 

As a 100% donor-funded nonprofit organization, PLF could not fight and win these battles without your support.  We THANK YOU for your generosity and ask you to continue to stand with PLF as we stand for freedom.  To support our work in 2015, please make a tax-deductible gift today.

 

Please also help us expand our base by encouraging your family, friends, and colleagues to visit our website and join our mailing list.

 

If you know of a potential case you'd like PLF to consider, please fill out a case information form and someone from our Atlantic Center will be in touch.

 

Best regards,

Your PLF Atlantic Center Team 

 

null
 Mark Miller
Managing Attorney
 Doug Kruse
Director of Development
Attorney, College of Public Interest Law
Litigation News 

Victory!  Court Rejects State's Effort to Declare

"Last Call" for Florida Beer Growler Case

 

The Crafted Keg, LLC v. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation

 

Florida law permits craft brewers to sell their beer in either a 32-ounce or 128-ounce container, but prohibits the sale of a 64-ounce container, popularly known as a growler.  Does this law make any sense?  Is it constitutional?  PLF says NO.
 

The Crafted Keg, a small business success story in Downtown Stuart, Florida, is challenging this unconstitutional prohibition.  There is no rational basis for the State to outlaw 64-ounce beer growlers, especially given that it allows the sale of both smaller and larger containers.  When the State sought to get The Crafted Keg's suit dismissed last month, the U.S. District Court said NO.

 

The Court rejected the State's motion to dismiss on January 15, meaning that our case on behalf of The Crafted Keg goes forward.  Our fight is a direct challenge to anti-competition laws intended to favor wealthy, well-connected special interests at the expense of the free enterprise rights of small business owners. 

 

Court Rejects State's Effort to Declare
Court Rejects State's Effort to Declare "Last Call" for Florida Beer Growler Case

 

Mark Miller discusses the ruling in our PLF Liberty Blog.  You can read the Court's full decision.

  

Read Mark Miller and Christina Martin's op-ed, Florida's growler ban fails constitutional sobriety test, published in the Orlando Sentinel.
 

More information, including the complaint, our press release, a video, and a podcast, is available on our website.

 

Victory!  Judge Gives Green Light to

PLF's First Amendment Lawsuit 

 

McLean v. City of Alexandria, Virginia

 

Shawn Sheehy, Scott McLean, and Christina Martin at the U.S. Courthouse, Alexandria, VA

Government officials in Alexandria, Virginia, think they can dictate the kind of speech allowed in their city. The U.S. Constitution says otherwise.

 

PLF has come to the aid of Alexandria resident Scott McLean, who wants to sell his 2007 Dodge Ram pick-up truck by parking it on a city street near his home with a for sale sign in the window. By city ordinance, citizens may not park their vehicles on city streets with a for sale sign in the window.

 

The city permits other signs on parked vehicles. For example, Scott can park his truck with a sign saying "Virginia is for Lovers" or "Impeach Obama" and the city will not ticket him.  In other words, city officials are banning his speech based on its content -- a clear violation of the First Amendment.

 

In response to PLF's lawsuit, the city immediately suspended enforcement of the law and asked the Court to dismiss the case altogether.  Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court rejected that request, ruling that the case may proceed.

 

There is nothing more fundamental to Americans' understanding of liberty than freedom of speech.  That is why PLF will continue to stand up for the right of individuals to honestly advertise products or services without the government choosing who gets to speak about what.

 

Read The Washington Post article and find out more about McLean v. City of Alexandria in our press release and PLF Liberty Blog.

null

Atlantic City "Piano Man" Battling New Jersey's Attempt to Seize His Property

 

Birnbaum v. Casino Reinvestment Development Authority 

          

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), a state government agency, seeks to take the property of a senior citizen named Charlie Birnbaum who has owned his family home in Atlantic City for decades.  Mr. Birnbaum is an accomplished pianist and the chief piano tuner for Atlantic City's casinos.  The CRDA virtually admits that it wants the property to benefit the privately-owned casinos:

 

"The state has recognized the economic engine is the casinos, and Atlantic City is vital to the success of the State of New Jersey," CRDA attorney Stuart Lederman said.  "That's the public purpose here."

 

Years ago, the CRDA tried this same gambit in Atlantic City and failed.  In that case, the CRDA went after a widow's home to benefit a casino.  At that time, the courts said no dice, and told the CRDA that taking a person's private property to benefit a privately-owned casino is not taking property for public use.  Read the decision.

 

That decision makes sense to PLF.  Yet here we are, a decade or two later, and the CRDA is back at the table again, placing its bet that the courts won't look at this case the same way they looked at that prior case.

 

Should the government have the power to take a man's home for a casino?

In our opinion, the government should not play games with private property rights.  Therefore, PLF will file an amicus brief on behalf of Mr. Birnbaum in the New Jersey appellate courts later this spring.


Read more at Press of Atlantic City.comNJ.com, and NYTimes.com.  

NY and NJ Courts both reject property rights

 

In Griepenburg v. Township of Ocean, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a local government can zone a property in a manner to benefit everyone else but the property owners.  PLF filed an amicus brief in this case supporting the New Jersey property owners.  We hope these property owners pursue their local government in court for unconstitutionally taking their property by way of this targeted zoning scheme. We lost a skirmish, but the war goes on.

 

In New York, the court upended a centuries-old settled question of law in the case of Friends of Thayer Lake, LLC v. Phil Brown.  The Brandreth family has owned thousands of acres of real property deep in the Adirondacks since 1851, including the non-commercially navigable streams within that land.  But in 2009, a trespasser decided to traipse across their private property and canoe through portions of the streams, and walk across the Brandreths' property when the streams became too rapid.  Based on that rather preposterous series of facts, an appellate court in the state of New York concluded that these streams were now -- presto change-o! -- public property.

 

Read the full Blogpost by Mark Miller

PLF opposes EPA's "waters of the United States" power grab

 

Imagine if federal officials expanded their power to include the authority to regulate virtually any wet spot on your property -- including ditches, drains, seasonal puddles, and more.  The EPA aims to do precisely this with its proposal to broaden the definition of "waters of the U.S." under the Clean Water Act.

 

PLF attorney Reed Hopper rightly calls the EPA's effort "the largest expansion of power ever proposed by a federal agency."  Last fall, we submitted public comments to the agencies in opposition to the proposed rule.  Earlier this month, PLF submitted testimony for a joint congressional hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee.

 

If the EPA goes forward with this unprecedented power grab, you can count on PLF to take to the courts to beat back this egregious bureaucratic overreach.

 

Learn more about the waters of the U.S. issue in our PLF Liberty Blog.

Read Todd Gaziano's op-ed in The Daily Caller.

  
Speaking Up and Speaking Out for Liberty

Benefits of school choice extend far

beyond disadvantaged students

 

Mark Miller and Joshua Thompson

Newark Star-Ledger

 

"Competition does not wipe out public schools; rather, competition forces public schools to improve in order to attract students."

 

Read the full article

Freeing America's education system

from the 19th century

 

Joshua Thompson and Jennifer Marshall, The Heritage Foundation

Tampa Tribune

 

"Education savings accounts (ESAs) help put the student back at the center of education policy discussions. Yet some groups object and have thrown up obstructions to protect the status quo and stifle this promising innovation."

 

Read the full article

Todd Gaziano

Do Federal Civil Rights laws

guarantee equal outcomes? 

The Supreme Court will Decide

 

Todd Gaziano

The Blaze

 

"Can the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing, lending, and related matters 'because of' race, gender, and similar factors, also be read to require states, lenders, and others to guarantee equal racial, gender, and ethnic outcomes for all of their policies and actions?"

    

Read the full article.  

Upcoming events

SAVE THE DATE:  April 14, 2015

PLF Atlantic Center Reception in West Palm Beach

 

PLF President Rob Rivett and members of our Board of Trustees invite you to a special reception on Tuesday, April 14, at 5:00 pm at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties in West Palm Beach.  Come and meet PLF clients, network with fellow PLF supporters, and show your support for liberty.  Invitations coming shortly.  Bring a friend and join us! 

SAVE THE DATE:  April 16, 2015

PLF Lunch & Briefing in Tampa

 

Come hear PLF President Rob Rivett and Atlantic Center Managing Attorney Mark Miller share an update on PLF and current cases.  Get an insider's view of our work and network with fellow PLF supporters.

PLF Goes to College

 

Christina Martin will discuss property rights with Professor David Dreyer's Business Law class at Palm Beach Atlantic University this month. 

Mark Miller will speak to Florida Coastal School of Law's Federalist Society chapter in Jacksonville on March 5th. He will discuss the fight for liberty in the courts. 

Recent events

Doug Kruse and Mark Miller spoke at the winter meeting of the Florida Realtors in Orlando on January 23rd.  In their remarks to the Land Use, Property Rights & Sustainable Development Subcommittee, they talked about PLF's role in property rights cases such as Breinig v. Martin County, People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Griepenburg v. Township of Ocean.  They also thanked the Florida Realtors for the organization's generous support of PLF over the years.

Doug Kruse addressed the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association's board of directors at their January 9th meeting in Bowling Green.  Doug thanked the board members for FFVA's generous support of PLF and discussed our recent work on issues related to the Endangered Species Act, property rights, and the EPA's proposed redefinition of "waters of the U.S."

Atlantic Center - Palm Beach Gardens

The Atlantic Center is one of four litigation centers operated by Pacific Legal Foundation to defend liberty and property rights across the nation.  Opened in 1997, PLF's Atlantic Center participates in important, precedent-setting cases on behalf of clients throughout the Eastern Seaboard.

 

Atlantic Center address:  

 

8645 N. Military Trail

Suite 511

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410

 

Phone number:  (561) 691-5000 

  

Please contact us if you have a question or comment, or need additional information about PLF's Atlantic Center:

 

Mark Miller
Managing Attorney

Douglas R. Kruse
Director of Development

[email protected]

Christina M. Martin
College of Public Interest

Law (CPIL) Attorney
[email protected]

Paula Puccio
PACE Registered Paralegal