Appellate Decision in Crownholm v BPELSG

[Warren Smith]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District has upheld the District Court for the Eastern District of California’s granting of BPELSG’s motion to dismiss Crownholm’s appeal from his citation by the Board for unlicensed practice of land surveying.

In a Memorandum issued March 7, the Court of Appeals analyzed Crownholm’s arguments and determined that they were insufficient to overturn the District Court’s ruling.

Crownholm’s appeal from the Board citation was filed in federal court under the guise of protection of freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The District Court held that, while speech is protected, actions contrary to California’s regulatory scheme are not.

[LS9200]

Will be interesting to see if they try and go farther with this. I'll take this as a win for surveying and professional licensing as a whole.

My understanding of the courts is that now all lower courts within the 9th district must follow this ruling unless there are compelling reasons to distinguish their current case from the now established precedent by the appellate court.

[DWoolley]

...

My understanding of the courts is that now all lower courts within the 9th district must follow this ruling unless there are compelling reasons to distinguish their current case from the now established precedent by the appellate court.

Ixnay. I believe the case is "unpublished".

DWoolley