Courting Liberty

PLF's Creative Director Brian Feulner joins client and turkey farmer Willie Benedetti and PLF attorney Jeremy Talcott from Benedetti's Ranch in Marin County to discuss how the County’s new forced-farming mandate denies building permits to landowners in the coastal agricultural zone UNLESS they agree to personally engage in farming or ranching. PLF’s lawsuit challenges the coercive requirement as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, because it unconstitutionally deprives Willie of his liberty to engage in the career of his choosing. The requirement is also challenged under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, because it amounts to an unreasonable dictate with no tie to any public need created by any development project application.