Real Estate & Land Use

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The City of Bellevue’s (WA) first-in-time rule to decide between competing applications for retail cannabis establishments within 1,000 feet of each other created a confusing process when first implemented in 2014 and now has led to the City’s exposure for tortious interference with business expectancy damages by a license applicant who lost out. In a…

The federal tax reform law that passed in December 2017 included a new incentive, the qualified opportunity zone (QOZ) regime.  The purpose of this tax incentive is to unlock and redirect trillions (yes, trillions) of capital gains into investments into new businesses, and substantial improvements to existing businesses, so long as those businesses are located…

Today we’re highlighting an interesting case out of the 6th Circuit. In K.V.G. Properties, Inc. v. Westfield Ins. Co., 900 F.3d 818 (6th Cir. 2018), a commercial landlord was denied insurance coverage for damage caused to his property by tenants who were illegally growing marijuana there. The landlord leased property to a group of…

A few months ago, we chronicled a suit that Josephine County brought against the State of Oregon, which challenged the legality of the state’s marijuana laws. On August 30, Federal Magistrate Judge Clarke recommended dismissal of the lawsuit. In succinct fashion, Judge Clarke noted that Josephine County lacks standing to sue the State of…

Josephine County responded aggressively to a recent adverse decision by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), bringing suit against the State of Oregon to invalidate the state’s marijuana laws.  The complaint, filed April 3, 2018, argues that the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) preempts Oregon’s recreational and medical marijuana schemes.
Continue Reading Josephine County Sues State of Oregon Over Marijuana Laws

In Cossins v. Josephine County, issued March 14, 2018, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) remanded a recently adopted ordinance to Josephine County.  The ordinance, No. 2017-002, would have restricted marijuana production on land zoned Rural Residential to lots and parcels larger than five acres, effectively prohibiting marijuana production on anything less…