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​Bona Law PC files Amicus Curiae Brief with Minnesota Supreme Court in Property Rights Case

February 23, 2015

Bona Law PC attorneys Jarod Bona and Aaron Gott filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Minnesota Vacation Rental Association in a Minnesota Supreme Court case examining municipal power and real estate.

In the case of Dean et al. v. City of Winona, the Institute for Justice represented four property owners challenging a Winona city ordinance that caps the number of rental licenses on each residential block to thirty-percent of the residential units on each block. The property owners sued under both Minnesota statutory and constitutional law: (1) The thirty-percent rule was beyond the city’s zoning power as limited by the Minnesota legislature (ultra vires); (2) due process; and (3) equal protection.

In its amicus brief, Bona Law PC argued on behalf of its client that (1) the thirty-percent rule is—necessarily—a zoning ordinance; and (2) the ordinance exceeds the city’s authority as an ultra vires act because it seeks to zone by reference to the users of the property not the use of the property (in addition to other defects).

Bona Law PC is a boutique law firm that focuses on (1) antitrust litigation and counseling; (2) appellate litigation; (3) business litigation; and (4) challenges to government conduct. Bona Law PC attorneys have substantial experience in real-estate litigation, including appellate matters relating to property rights. Bona Law PC attorneys have also filed many amicus briefs in the state and federal appellate courts, including the US Supreme Court and Minnesota and California Supreme Courts.