Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency

Since 1984, an association of property owners known as the Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council (“Association”) has been engaged in litigation challenging the regulatory program that protects one of the most pristine environmental habitats on the planet. The Association has fought vigorously for the interests of owners of property in the Lake Tahoe Basin (“Basin”), an aesthetically and ecologically cherished region straddling the California-Nevada border. The extensive litigation between the Association and the Basin’s regulatory body, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (“Agency”), has thus far generated ten published opinions, four from this court alone.

The current action is a challenge to provisions of the Agency’s 1987 Regional Plan (“1987 Plan”). In 2000, we dismissed similar claims brought by the Association pursuant to the applicable statutes of limitations. Because the current claims— brought by the same lead plaintiff, acting on behalf of organizational members with the same interests — stem from the same transactional nucleus of facts, we find that the instant suit is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. We therefore affirm.

*1070 I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

“Lake…