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For some people who own property along California’s beautiful coast, living on the beach seems to trigger a desire to keep others off “their” beach. As a homeowners’ association learned in a recent appellate court ruling, that can violate the California Coastal Act.

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) sparked extensive controversy even before it was signed into law by President Trump just before last Christmas. But there is little disagreement about one aspect of the law: it has the potential to cause confusion for most couples negotiating spousal support in a dissolution or divorce.

All jobs have their routine, sometimes boring, tasks. Even judges often have to decipher complex statutes and slog through tedious contract disputes. But every once in a while they get a distinctly out-of-the-ordinary case – such as the woman with five tigers.

Let’s say you are in a car dealership, and a sedan’s window sticker says: “$25,000 for buyers under age 30, $50,000 for anyone older.” That probably doesn’t seem like a reasonable way to price automobiles. But the dating app Tinder didn’t hesitate to charge older subscribers more to seek romance online.

California was a pioneer in safeguarding members of the public against lawsuits aimed solely at intimidating them from speaking out on public issues, and its “Anti-SLAPP” law is still regarded as providing the broadest protection among the 28 states with similar statutes.

A squabble between neighbors over an easement for a driveway has been in and out of Napa County courts for a quarter of a century and, thanks to a recent decision by the California Court of Appeal, is headed back for yet another hearing.