On February 13, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Defendants’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc in the case titled Markle Interests, L.L.C., et al. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, et al. The Defendants, who are timber and commercial developers, requested that the Court rehear the June 30, 2016 panel majority opinion that upheld the District Court’s ruling that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s designation of 1,500 acres of private land in St. Tammany Parish as a critical-habitat for the Dusky Gopher Frog under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) was proper.  (Click here to view the article on the Fifth Circuit’s June 30th Opinion).  
Continue Reading The Dusky Gopher Frog Lives to Fight Another Day: Fifth Circuit Denies Rehearing