In a decision by the Massachusetts Appeals Court today, the Court affirmed the Firm’s trial court win for its cranberry grower client. The Massachusetts Superior Court previously ruled that the Town of Halifax’s requirement of a permit for earth removal related to the client’s cranberry growing operations, and the conditions imposed by the Town, were invalid and beyond the Town’s authority. After briefing and argument by Nick Rosenberg, of Gardner & Rosenberg, the Appeals Court ruled that the Town’s requirements were abritrary and capricious and “repugnant to law,” including with respect to the Massachusetts Zoning Act. The decision is a significant win for the firm’s client, a decades long family-owned cranberry grower, and has larger implications reinforcing the limitations of local regulation in the context of strong statewide agricultural protections embodied in statutes like M.G.L. c. 40A, s.3. See the full decision below.
