Religious Land Use and Zoning Leaders

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Religious Institutions

The Constitutional Right to Leave a Faith and the “Dead Hand” of Religious Obligations

  • January 28, 2022
  • by Noel Sterett

Americans enjoy an inalienable First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Recently, the California Court of Appeals reaffirmed that the First Amendment implicitly includes the right to change one’s religious beliefs, forms of worship, and religious affiliations. In certain circumstances, an individual’s freedom […]

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Public School Closings Open Door to Religious Schools and Set Stage for State and Local Legal Battles

  • January 5, 2022
  • by Noel Sterett

Hundreds of thousands of parents across the country just learned that their local public schools will be closing. In Chicago alone, 330,000 students will be denied in-person instruction. Panicked parents, who are already familiar with the difficulties and inadequacies of remote learning, are looking for […]

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Dalton & Tomich wins injunction against Hinds County, Mississippi on behalf of The Church at Jackson

  • September 27, 2021
  • by Emily

County’s zoning ordinance violates Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) Media Contacts: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; barbara@eafocus.com; 248.260.8466; Noel Sterett; nsterett@daltontomich.com; 815.997.7221 Detroit—-September 27, 2021—National law firm Dalton & Tomich announced it has won an injunction on behalf of the Church at Jackson […]

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The Good Book on religious property disputes is now available: Religious Property Disputes and the Law: House of God, Laws of Man, published by the American Bar Association

  • August 10, 2021
  • by Emily

Detroit – August 10, 2021 – Daniel Dalton, co-founder of Detroit-headquartered law firm Dalton & Tomich PLC, and a national authority in religious property law, announced the publication of his book Religious Property Disputes and the Law: House of God, Laws of Man, by the American […]

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Park and pray? Church wins preliminary injunction against City of St. Pete Beach, which attempted to forbid public parking in Church’s lot

  • January 28, 2021
  • by Emily

City’s punitive measures restricting religious exercise of Pass-A-Grille Beach Community Church likely violate federal law     Media Contacts: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; barbara@eafocus.com; 248.260.8466; Dan Dalton; ddalton@daltontomich.com; 248.229.2329   St. Pete Beach, Fla.—January 27, 2021—Daniel Dalton, a religious property and land use attorney with […]

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How Religious Groups May Use Their Facilities to Help the Homeless During the Pandemic

  • March 25, 2020
  • by Noel Sterett

An increasing number of state and local governments are issuing “shelter-in-place” or “stay-at-home” orders. But what does that mean for those who have no shelter or home in which to stay? The homeless so often depend on shelters that are already at capacity, making social […]

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Interesting Land Use Provisions of the Illinois Religious Corporation Act

  • February 21, 2020
  • by Noel Sterett

In Illinois, there is a very old and little-known law called the Religious Corporation Act of 1872 (805 ILCS 110 et seq.). The Act is still on the books and affords religious congregations an alternative way of incorporating. If a congregation does not want to […]

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How a Pending Supreme Court Case and the Growing School Choice Movement Could Lead to More Religious Land Use Cases

  • January 30, 2020
  • by Noel Sterett

This week is National School Choice Week. And coincidentally, just last week the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a key school choice case with significant religious liberty concerns. The case, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, involves a scholarship program that provides […]

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Why We Fight for Religious Liberty

  • December 10, 2019
  • by Noel Sterett

I just read attorney Luke Goodrich’s excellent new book entitled Free to Believe:  The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America. Because we have the privilege at Dalton & Tomich of being on the front lines of that battle, I read the book with great interest. […]

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Building Faith: Protecting Religious Freedom Through Land Use Laws

  • November 8, 2019
  • by Noel Sterett

Last night I was honored to speak on a panel hosted by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice at Marquette Law School in Milwaukee, WI. The panel discussion was part of the United States Attorney General’s Place to Worship Initiative and was […]

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Dalton & Tomich, PLC is the national leader in successfully helping churches, other religious institutions and their insurers defend their rights in land use and zoning matters under RLUIPA, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. We have helped clients win cases against municipalities and other local government bodies from coast to coast, with experience serving both as general counsel and special litigation counsel.