The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has nullified a rule denoting 143 acres of valuable commercial property in San Diego, California as critical habitat for an endangered species that is San Diego fairy shrimp.

Decision by DC Circuit Court reversed a ruling on summary judgment in favor of the Fish and Wildlife Service in May 2010 by the DC District Court in Otay Mesa Property, LP v. US Department of Interior, Case No. 09-383. Nancie Marzulla, attorney for the landowners and partner at Marzulla Law, LLC, is spirited about the recent opinion.
According to the Ms. Marzulla that we are pleased that the appellate court accorded that occupied and engaged should mean just that, and not whatever the agency contended it should mean, this land should never have been designated as critical habitat in the first place.

Relating to the endangered fairy shrimp as a crustacean about the size of an ant and a lifespan of 30 days, the appellate court based its ruling on the US Fish and Wildlife’s non performance to explain that the land designated was in fact occupied, as demanded and requisite by the Endangered Species Act. The court recognized that the agency had mistakenly based its crucial and vital habitat designation on a quarantined and isolated sighting of four fairy shrimp found in a tire groove on a heavily travelled dirt road. That was the only sighting, despite numerous visits to the property both before and after the one isolated unusual searching.
Marzulla Law, LLC is one of the nation’s leading law firms in helping property owners resolve federal environmental deputes.

Washington DC Circuit Court of appeals advantaged landowners

Report by Vibhanshu Viabhav