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    Public Law Legal Research Blog

    Charlene J. Hicks

    Recent Posts

    ZONING:  A Rezoning Application for a Private Facility Need Not Substantially Accord with the Comprehensive Plan or the Factors Set Forth in Virginia Code §§ 15.2-2283 and 15.2-2284

    Posted by Charlene J. Hicks on Tue, Jul 30, 2024 @ 15:07 PM

    Charlene Hicks—Senior Attorney

                In Hartley v. Board of Supervisors, 80 Va. App. 1, 897 S.E.2d 217 (2024), the Virginia Court of Appeals issued a published opinion that deliberately discounts the role that a locality’s comprehensive plan must play in the Board of Supervisors’ decision to approve a private rezoning application. The decision also requires a court to view with great leniency the Board’s rezoning decision in light of the requirements set forth in Virginia Code §§ 15.2-2283 and 15.2-2284. Hartley thus paves the way for localities to quite easily effectuate a substantial change in the character of a single parcel of private property from the surrounding neighborhood.

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    Topics: zoning, rezoning application

    CIVIL PROCEDURE: Simultaneous Involvement in Cobell Settlement Claim Bars Plaintiffs' Mineral Lease Complaint Against United States

    Posted by Charlene J. Hicks on Thu, Mar 19, 2015 @ 12:03 PM

    Charlene Hicks, Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group

         A class action settlement may have far-reaching, unintended effects for particular class members who choose not to opt out of the settlement. This point is highlighted in a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Two Shields v. United States, No. 13-90 L, 2015 WL 513315 (Fed. Cl. Feb. 6, 2015).

         In that case, two Native Americans filed claims against the United States, alleging that the Government had breached its fiduciary duty to prudently manage their mineral rights, which were held in trust by the United States. The plaintiffs were allottees of Indian lands on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation who, in 2007 and 2008, had granted oil leases to a private party known as Dakota-3. The plaintiffs alleged that the United States had rubber-stamped its approval of the leases at below-market rates. In November 2010, Dakota-3 re-leased the plaintiffs' allotments for a bonus price roughly 20 times the original lease rate. The plaintiffs alleged that the United States had breached its duties under the Indian Long-Term Leasing Act, 25 U.S.C. § 396, which requires the Government to approve only those mineral leases that are in the best interests of the Indian owners.

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    Topics: breach of fiduciary duty, civil procedure, class action

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