Penn Central

Subscribe to Penn Central via RSS

Do you really need an excuse to visit Seattle? If you do, and want to earn some CLE credit while you’re at it, check it out the brochure for the upcoming Eminent Domain seminar on May 18, 2017. This is a one-day program that focuses on the hot topics in our area of law. We’ll be speaking about “Changes in National Public Policy” and the latest developments in eminent domain and takings law. 

Agenda and full registration information here. 

Come, join us. 

7th Annual Eminent Domain Seminar, Seattle, Washington, May 18, 2017 

Continue Reading Seattle Eminent Domain Conference, May 18, 2017

Here’s the recording of the March 20, 2017 oral arguments in Murr v. Wisconsin, the e “larger parcel” or “denominator” case.

The printed transcript is posted here, and our summary of the arguments is posted here. Our preview of the arguments, which includes link to the briefs, is here.

Related articles
SCOTUS Oral Arguments In Horne (Taking California Raisins) – First Report
hawaiioceanlaw.com: Hawaii Aquarium Fish Permit Triggering Environmental Review – Oral Argument
Friday Round-Up: Murr Arguments, Exactions Cert Petition, Houston “Zoning”
inversecondemnation.com: Affirmed By An Equally Confused Court? Some Thoughts On The Oral Arguments In The “Larger Parcel” Case

Continue Reading Murr Oral Argument Recording

There’s a lot of backstory in Reoforce, Inc. v. United States, No. 15-5084 (Mar. 17, 2017), involving mining claims, federal patents, and public lands. An interesting read, we won’t go into the details.

But suffice it to say that Reoforce thought it had a pretty decent chance of obtaining a patent for federal land because there was a market for what Reoforce thought was a valuable mineral, pumicite. In the end, Reoforce didn’t get the patent because there wasn’t as much of a market for the pumicite as it believed, but under federal law, Reoforce still had a limited property right to mine the stuff in remote Kern County, California. 

Eventually, the BLM entered into an agreement with the California Parks Department to turn that land into Red Rock Canyon State Park. Certain mining claims were allowed to continue, but others were temporarily prohibited. Reoforce’s were among the…

Continue Reading Fed Cir: BLM’s Temporary Prohibition On Mining Not A Penn Central Taking

Here’s what we’re reading this Friday:

Related articles
Horne v. USDA: Way More Than Silly Raisin Jokes
Day 1, 2017 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, San Diego
Notes And Links From Today’s Hawaii Land Use Conference Session

…
Continue Reading Friday Round-Up: Murr Arguments, Exactions Cert Petition, Houston “Zoning”

2010-03-19 13.36.36
No, this isn’t the Supreme Court, it’s Graceland,
purchased by Elvis in March 1957.
(We’re just checking whether you are paying attention.) 

Appellate oral argument, as they say, is supposed to be a “conversation” between the bench and counsel. But the overall impression we were left with after reviewing the transcript of yesterday’s Supreme Court oral arguments in Murr v. Wisconsin, the case about the “larger parcel” or “denominator” in regulatory takings cases, was that just about everyone in the courtroom was talking on different wavelengths. 

Don’t get us wrong — arguing counsel for all the parties and amicus did a pretty good job, in our view. They are advocates, after all, and their job is to champion their clients’ position, not to solve the Court’s confusion, and problems that appear entirely self-inflicted.

Two of the parties (the Murrs and the State of Wisconsin) urged the Court to adopt…

Continue Reading Affirmed By An Equally Confused Court? Some Thoughts On The Oral Arguments In The “Larger Parcel” Case

As takings mavens are no doubt already aware, next Monday, the 8-Justice Supreme Court will hear arguments in Murr v. Wisconsin, the regulatory takings case which asks whether the county can avoid application of the Lucas wipeout standard on one parcel by taking advantage of the fact that the plaintiffs also own the adjacent parcel. Thus, the county argues, both parcels should be combined to determine how the regulation has impacted the property. 

Others have done a better job at previewing the issues than we could hope to (see SCOTUSblog, the National Constitution Center, and the Federalist Society), so we won’t do a big summary here, but will limit ourselves to pointing out what we think will be the key areas of contention. Go read the voluminous briefing as well. And with the Court one-Justice-down for this case, we’re certainly not going to even venture…

Continue Reading SCOTUS Argument Preview: Does Fee Simple Absolute Mean Anything? The “Larger Parcel” Issue In Regulatory Takings

Here’s an article, recently published by the Urban Lawyer (the law review produced by our ABA section, the Section of State and Local Government Law), with our take on the most interesting and important eminent domain and takings rulings from the past year. 

Many of the cases discussed will be familiar to regular readers, but here it is in one place, and in print. 

Recent Developments in Eminent Domain, 48 Urb. Lawyer 939 (2016)

Related articles
New Article: “Eminent Domain in The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina”
New Law Review Article Worth Reading: “Through a Glass Clearly: Predicting the Future in Land Use Takings Law”

Continue Reading New Article: Recent Developments In Eminent Domain

When we previewed the 2017 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference while we were getting buried in the snow a couple of weeks ago, we promised there would be better weather in San Diego than much of the country was then experiencing. As you can see, we delivered.

We — and by “we” I mean the faculty, the ALI-CLE staff, and the record number of attendees who came to San Diego — also delivered on a really great conference. See our posts on several of the presentations here, here, here, and here for a flavor.

We also announced that the date and location for the 2018 Conference has been set, and the hotel and site have been booked:

2018 ALI-CLE
Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference
Francis Marion Hotel
Charleston, South Carolina
January 25-27, 2018

Stay tuned for details. Send your ideas for…

Continue Reading 2017 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain Conference Wrap, 2018 Venue Announcement

IMG_20170128_093740

Our final day was anchored, as usual, by Pacific Legal Foundation’s Jim Burling, and property rights guru and advocate Michael Berger. Jim was his usual riveting self, and Michael supplied the insight to cases which only he can.

In case you are wondering, the above is the view from the dais, and no, I didn’t bring a Spam calendar with me, it was a gift from a thoughtful New Jersey colleague who knows that Hawaii people love Spam. I will reserve comment on whether I love Spam, and simply say thank you for the calendar. 

We finished the day strong with the National Forum, where audience members took the mic and shared their cases, issues, and results with the rest of us. 

…
Continue Reading Links & Materials From Day 3 Of ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, San Diego