Meyers Nave CEQA Team Defeats Attempt to Stop Construction of UCLA Conference Center

Meyers Nave obtained a crucial victory for the University of California, Los Angeles, when Superior Court Judge Thomas I. McKnew, Jr. rejected all the California Environmental Quality Act claims filed by a local community group in its crusade to stop the construction of a conference center and hotel on campus. 

Led by Amrit Kulkarni, Shiraz Tangri and Julia Bond, the Meyers Nave team also secured the dismissal of the primary donors to the project, Meyer and Renee Luskin, by convincing the Court that the Save Westwood Village organization was using litigation to retaliate against the Luskins for exercising their free speech rights. Attorneys from throughout the firm’s California offices contributed expertise in achieving these victories.

The Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center is one of UCLA’s highest profile projects – a 294,000 square foot facility with 25,000 square feet of meeting space and 250 guest rooms. Meyers Nave was initially hired to help bulletproof the project’s Environmental Impact Report against a CEQA challenge. Once the CEQA review was completed, opposition groups launched a negative publicity campaign and filed lawsuits raising numerous challenges, including CEQA, taxation and zoning.