News pertaining to real estate and land use law.
In December 2024, a judge agreed that a one-story restriction contained in an 85-year-old deed on a single-family home in Hope Ranch was not enforceable. (Max Liskin, et. al. vs. Hope Ranch Park Homes Association, Marc A. Lowe, Pauline Lowe, et. al., December 15, 2024, Case No.: 22CV02239). The restriction was clearly unfair to the firm’s clients (the Lowe family) [ More... ]
A Santa Barbara Superior Court judge ruled July 30 that property owners adjacent to Montecito Country Club must pay for the costs of removing landscaping they installed without permission on an easement owned by the country club and restore the property to its previous condition. (Montecito Country Club, LLC vs. Kevin Root, et. al., Case No.: 21CV02227, July 30, 2024) [ More... ]
Eight attorneys were gathered, in person and virtually, in Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne’s courtroom on Monday morning, in the hope of influencing her ruling that saved a Hollister Ranch lawsuit from an early death. Three were from the state Attorney General’s Office, and one was Barry Cappello, arguably the litigator’s litigator in Santa Barbara. By Jean Yamamura Mon [ More... ]
Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle sided with Montecito homeowners on Tuesday in the dispute over parking access to the Montecito Hot Springs. Anderle ruled that Santa Barbara County and its legal counsel violated a preliminary injunction by placing notices in front of 11 homes in Montecito, ordering the residents to remove their encroachments in the public right of way. "The letters [ More... ]
Four Montecito homeowners have won a temporary injunction to block Santa Barbara County from moving forward on a plan to install parking spaces along East Mountain Drive near the Hot Springs Trailhead.Superior Court Judge Donna Geck concluded that the county's parking plan cannot move forward until it is determined whether an environmental review is needed.The county wants to add parking spaces along [ More... ]
Four Montecito property owners are taking legal action against Santa Barbara County over the government's attempt to create up to 62 parking spaces for access to the Hot Springs Trail on East Mountain Drive. A hearing for a preliminary injunction against the county is set for May 6. Christopher Anderson, Ross Bagdasarian, Peter Barker and James Moreley are looking to stop the [ More... ]
Owners of a newly purchased lakefront home on the west shore of Lake Tahoe are suing their real estate brokers and agents for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and negligent misrepresentation. (Homewood Camp LLC, et al. vs. Darin Vicknair, Michael Oliver, Oliver Luxury Real Estate, et. al, July 29, 2020, U.S. District Court, Eastern District, Case [ More... ]
By Melinda Burns, Santa Barbara Independent The largest cannabis operation to come before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors — 50 acres of cultivation at the gateway to the fabled Sta. Rita Hills, a federally designated wine-grape-growing region — was approved for a zoning permit in a contentious 3-2 vote on Tuesday. Santa Barbara West Coast Farms LLC, located [ More... ]
A recent ruling by a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge will mean less public access to Hollister Ranch beaches for at least three to five years as litigation in the land use dispute continues, says A. Barry Cappello, lead counsel representing the Hollister Ranch Owners Association. "Judge Colleen Sterne’s decision to invalidate a 2017 settlement, which was tentatively approved at [ More... ]
By Gina Potthoff, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @ginapotthoff | Published on 02.16.2016 6:46 p.m. Santa Barbara County’s legal counsel doesn’t have a response for a local attorney’s implied intent to file a lawsuit if officials allow the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to annex land without going through certain planning channels. Well-known Santa Barbara attorney Barry Cappello promised county [ More... ]
