September 2012

Those of you who attended the recent CLE session at the ABA Annual Meeting about Arkansas Game & Fish Comm’n v. United States, No. 11-597 (cert. granted Apr. 2, 2012) may recall that Professor John Echeverria, the well-known environmental lawprof, said he was writing a brief in the case supporting the government’s arguments, but was looking for a “client.” Well, it looks like he found one: today, the International Municipal Lawyers Association filed this amicus brief in support of the respondent.

In Arkansas Game, the Federal Circuit held that flooding caused by the Corps of Engineers was only temporary, and did not result in a compensable taking merely because it eventually stopped, and “at most created tort liablity.” The dissenting judge concluded that temporary flooding was no different in kind than more permanent flooding that occurs in other inverse condemnation cases, and regularly results in awards of …

Continue Reading IMLA Amicus Brief In SCOTUS Flood Takings Case: This Is Not An “Environmental” Case

August 31, 2012 was a big day in the Texas Supreme Court for takings and condemnation lawyers. The court issued three major opinions in our favorite area of law. The first involves a question of public use, the second inverse condemnation, and the third valuation. Trifecta.

Instead of putting our gloss on the opinions, we’ll just post them and excerpts of the summaries from the Supreme Court of Texas Blog.

  • City of Austin v. Whittingthon, No. 10-0316 – From the Supreme Court of Texas Blog: “This is a potentially major takings case about when government can take property for private (rather than public) benefit. The City of Austin took a parcel of land in downtown that was, in short order, folded into a private development. A jury concluded that this taking was made in bad faith, and the court of appeals agreed. Divided 7-2, the Texas Supreme

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Continue Reading Big Takings Day In The Texas Supreme Court