The Indiana Court of Appeals held that Elwood lacked authority to charge sewer fees to property that could not produce sewage and was neither connected to nor served by the system.
A divided Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a refusal-to-identify conviction based on circumstantial proof that the defendant knew police had stopped him for an ordinance violation.
The Massachusetts SJC rejected Marshfield’s unfunded-mandate, voting-rights, Home Rule, and zoning challenges to the MBTA Communities Act.
The Massachusetts SJC preserved an injunction against Quincy’s saint statues and reaffirmed the state-specific Article 3 framework for government religious displays.
The Massachusetts SJC held that White Stadium was no longer Article 97 parkland because pre-1972 legislation had converted the parcel to a school facility.
The First Department dismisses an Article 78 challenge to NYCHA’s redevelopment plan for the Elliot and Chelsea Houses, holding that the four-month CPLR 217(1) limitations period began running from NYCHA’s July 28, 2025 record of decision — leaving the December 22, 2025 filing untimely by nearly a month.
The Utah Court of Appeals reversed a partial summary judgment that had quieted most of a disputed downtown Moab parcel to a private landowner, holding that the 1886 Moab Townsite Plat vested title in the municipality before the 1890 federal Luster Patent issued, that Utah’s rebuttable presumption of official regularity supplies the missing historical documentation, and that adverse possession cannot run against government land designated for public use regardless of how long the private use has continued.
The Indiana Supreme Court held that a Board of Zoning Appeals’ approval of a solar-farm special exception in the town’s two-mile extraterritorial fringe—issued before the town formally authorized extraterritorial jurisdiction in its comprehensive plan—was voidable, not void; landowners who did not challenge the approval within the statutory 30-day review period waived their objection.
The Commonwealth Court held that nonprofit, member-owned golf clubs are not “businesses” subject to a local business privilege tax on membership dues and assessments, because the clubs do not operate for profit and their members do not receive commercially taxable “services” — rejecting Radnor Township’s reliance on Fish v. Township of Lower Merion.
The Eighth Court of Appeals affirmed that El Paso’s monthly Environmental Franchise Fee—charged to all residential solid-waste customers and raised without cost studies to fund police and fire equipment—was an impermissible tax, not a legitimate regulatory fee, and that governmental immunity did not bar a refund because nonpayment was criminal.
The Second Department affirmed dismissal of a trip-and-fall claim at a railroad station against the Town of Islip for lack of prior written notice and against the LIRR/MTA for lack of duty to maintain the area.
The Second Department affirmed summary judgment for the City of Long Beach in a trip-and-fall case, finding no prior written notice of a protruding bolt on a parking sign in a grassy median.
Appellate Division affirms dismissal of negligence claim against NYC Health + Hospitals for failure to serve timely notice of claim on proper party and failure to plead special duty.
Appellate Division affirms summary judgment for City under storm-in-progress doctrine, finding eighteen hours after winter storm insufficient time to remedy icy sidewalk condition.
The Texas Supreme Court dismissed a nine-year challenge by cities to legislatively reduced telecom right-of-way rates, holding the cities sued the wrong defendant by naming only ‘the State of Texas’ rather than the telecom companies or a specific state agency.
The Thirteenth Court of Appeals held that a city cannot bar a contractor from presenting jurisdictional evidence by framing its plea to the jurisdiction as a pleadings-only challenge, and that amounts owed under a termination-for-convenience clause are “due and owed” within the Texas Local Government Code’s immunity waiver.
The Tenth District denied a Columbus police officer statutory immunity in a fatal K-9 unit shooting, finding genuine factual disputes about whether the officer recklessly perceived a threat before firing.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment dismissing a developer’s twelve-year-old breach-of-contract claim against Currituck County under an assumed water and sewer reimbursement agreement, holding that the 1986 developer agreement was not an installment contract because the county’s payment obligation was contingent on its own decision to connect customers, making the consideration unified and all claims time-barred under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-53(1)’s two-year limitations period.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the superior court and reinstated Henderson County’s grant of a special use permit for a residential addiction-recovery facility, holding that the Board of Adjustment properly classified the facility as an Assisted Living Residence because the county code’s use table enumerated ALR but not Mental Health Facility, and clarifying that a quasi-judicial body’s evidentiary rulings are reviewed for due process violation (on exclusion) or competent-evidence support (on admission)—not as errors of law under the Rules of Evidence.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated a trebled-damages award in a Mecklenburg County building-code enforcement suit, holding that a county lacks standing under Dillon’s Rule to recover monetary damages on behalf of private homeowners and that intervenors who never pleaded their own claims cannot collect from the county’s judgment, while remanding the underlying duplex-vs.-townhouse liability issue for re-evaluation under the 2012 and 2018 code editions that governed at the time of construction.
The Fourth DCA affirmed that a city’s code violation liens recorded after a lis pendens was filed were not entitled to foreclosure surplus funds, holding the city was not a ‘subordinate lienholder’ under section 45.032 because its liens were extinguished by the foreclosure sale.
The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a challenge to a Roanoke rezoning, holding that planning commissions have implied Dillon Rule authority to continue a rezoning hearing from one regularly scheduled meeting to the next without fresh advertising—the original notice covers the continued session, a post-hearing statutory amendment to Code § 15.2-2204 does not apply retroactively, and non-substantive amendments to the application do not independently trigger re-advertising.
The Washington Court of Appeals, Division II, affirmed Pierce County’s approval of a Tacoma Rescue Mission shared housing village, holding that (1) the county’s density formula counting each sleeping unit as 0.25 dwelling units is valid and controls density compliance, and (2) a land use hearing examiner lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate fee-title ownership disputes—a permit applicant that submits a statutory warranty deed and title insurance satisfies its ownership obligation even if a challenger asserts a competing historical claim to a portion of the property.
The Fourth District holds that the 2023 Statewide Siting Act does not strip counties of discretion over solar energy facility siting, affirming dismissal of solar developers’ mandamus claims against Winnebago County.