PLF joins Supreme Court case to fight extortionate permit fees
When you apply for a building permit, you don’t expect the government to extort you for tens of thousands of dollars. But that’s what happened to California retiree George Sheetz.
In 2016, George applied for a permit to build a small home on a vacant lot in El Dorado County. The County said he could have his permit... if he agreed to pay a traffic impact fee of more than $23,000.
“When you’re dealing with these government agencies, they pretty much have you over the barrel,” George says.
Pacific Legal Foundation already won two landmark Supreme Court victories on this issue: Nollan (1987) and Koontz (2013). The government is not allowed to weaponize the permitting process to extort more money or land from property owners.
George sued the County with the help of former PLF attorney Paul Beard, who successfully argued Koontz and is now a partner at FisherBroyles, LLP.
Now the case is going to the Supreme Court—and PLF is joining Beard as co-counsel.
