Connecticut Home Invasion Killer/Death Row Inmate Sues Under RLUIPA for...
In 2007, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded a home in Cheshire, Connecticut, where they horrifically murdered a mother and her two children. Hayes and Komisarjevsky were sentenced to death...
View ArticleCity, Islamic Group Near Settlement in Mosque Suit; Proposed deal would...
Jay Stapleton, The Connecticut Law Tribune, September 5, 2014Lawyers representing an Islamic group that wants to build a mosque in Norwalk had run up an estimated $5.5 million legal tab. That number...
View ArticleSecond Circuit Revives Chabad Group’s RLUIPA Suit
On September 19, 2014, the Second Circuit issued its decision in Chabad Lubavitch of Litchfield County, Inc. v. Borough of Litchfield (2d Cir. 2014), reversing the lower court’s entry of summary...
View ArticleNorwalk Settles Mosque Lawsuit for $2 Million
Law Tribune Staff and Wire Reports, The Connecticut Law Tribune September 24, 2014A long-running dispute between the city of Norwalk and an Islamic group appears to be settled, with the city agreeing...
View ArticleSecond Circuit Restores Litchfield Synagogue's Lawsuit*
Jay Stapleton, The Connecticut Law Tribune September 30, 2014A lawsuit filed by a Litchfield Jewish organization has been reinstated, giving the group new hopes it will ultimately win approval to build...
View Article2d Cir Extends Williamson County Ripeness "Final Decision" Requirement To ADA...
[Editors' Note: This posting is reprinted with permission from the Inverse Condemnation blog.]Ah, Williamson County. We've ranted about it before, so we won't do so here (again). But takings mavens...
View ArticleUpcoming Webinar: “Sex, Guns, and Drugs: Planning for Controversial Land Uses”
The American Planning Association’s Planning & Law Division is hosting a webinar on October 22, 2014 that may be of interest to many of our readers and to others looking for a break from RLUIPA....
View ArticleConn. Killer's Kosher Request Illustrates National Debate*
Isaac Avilucea, The Connecticut Law TribuneOctober 13, 2014A Muslim prisoner has taken Arkansas prison officials to the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing to allow him to grow a one-inch beard for...
View ArticleALI-CLE 2015 Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation & Condemnation 101...
The agendas and faculty lists have been released for the 2015 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation (the "masters" program, now in its 32nd year), and Condemnation 101: How to Prepare...
View ArticleCan the Flying Spaghetti Monster Reshape RLUIPA?*
By Kristina Doan Gruenberg of Burke, Williams, Sorensen LLPStephen Cavanaugh, an inmate incarcerated by the Nebraska Department of Corrections, filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging that prison staff...
View ArticleABA Webinar – Litigating Religious Land Use Cases
The State & Local Government Section of the American Bar Association is hosting a webinar that may be of interest to our readers – “Litigating Religious Land Use Cases.” Here is a description of...
View ArticleSatanist Smashes Car into Ten Commandments Monument After Oklahoma Court Ruling
The Associated Press reports that an Oklahoma state court, in Prescott v. Capitol Preservation Commission, (OK Cnty Dist. Ct., Sept. 19, 2014), has ruled that a six-foot tall Ten Commandments monument...
View ArticleAudio/Video Available from ABA Webinar: Litigating Religious Land Use Cases
On November 6, 2014, Daniel P. Dalton, John F. X. Peloso, Jr. and I participated in the webinar “Litigating Religious Land Use Cases,” hosted by the ABA’s State & Local Government Section. We...
View ArticleNew RLUIPA Suit: Mount Zion Church of God in Christ v. City of Garden City,...
Garden City, Kansas is being sued under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the U.S. Constitution, and state law over allegations that it has discriminated against a...
View ArticleVirginia Federal Court Clarifies RLUIPA Standing Requirements & Dismisses...
In an important decision, the court in Aldon, LLC v. City of Newport News, Virginia (E.D. Va. Nov. 20, 2014), clarified the standing requirements under RLUIPA. Few courts have addressed RLUIPA’s...
View ArticleSale of Property for Secular Use Does Not Constitute “Religious Exercise”
The Northern District of California recently dismissed RLUIPA claims filed by the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the Methodist Church (the “Conference”) against the City of San Francisco. The...
View ArticleFederal Court Enters Injunctive Order Against Bayview, Texas in RLUIPA Suit...
We previously reported on the case Cornerstone Church by the Bay v. Town of Bayview, Texas, in which the Church and the Laguna Madre Christian Academy are suing the Town (population approx. 400) under...
View ArticleA Gun in Every Home, But Not a Mosque on Every Corner: RLUIPA Lawsuit on the...
On December 1, the Kennesaw, Georgia City Council voted 4 to 1 to deny a land use application by Suffa Dawat Center (the “Center”) to establish an Islamic place of worship and education center in a...
View ArticleWhat’s a “Similarly Situated” Comparator under RLUIPA’s Equal Terms...
Few courts have identified what it means to be a “similarly situated” comparator under RLUIPA’s equal terms provision. Recently, in Church of Our Savior v. City of Jacksonville, (M.D. FL 2014), a...
View ArticleSt. Michael, Minnesota’s Cinemagic Theater: Riverside Church’s New Home? No,...
The City of St. Michael, Minnesota, after several months of negotiations, has denied Riverside Church’s application to modify the City’s General Business Zoning District (“GBD”). The zoning amendment...
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