Pipelines

Subscribe to Pipelines via RSS

Here’s how the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stated the issue in Hughes v. UGI Storage Co., No.J-69A-2021 (Nov. 29, 2021):

In these consolidated appeals, we consider the Commonwealth Court’s holding that, to be held liable for damages under Pennsylvania’s inverse condemnation statute, an entity must be clothed with the power of eminent domain – not only in a general sense, in that it must be a governmental or quasi-public entity to which condemnation powers may be delegated – but also, the entity must be invested with eminent domain authority specific to the property in issue.

Slip op. at 1.

If all you need to know is “what did the court answer?” you can stop right here: the court held that UGI Storage did not need to have been delegated the power of eminent domain, nor must it be delegated the power to take the property at issue, in order to…

Continue Reading Pennsylvania: To Be Liable For Inverse Condemnation, Taker Need Not Have Eminent Domain Power

All the topics you want to know about, presented by top-notch faculty from across the nation. Sessions include:

  • Keynote: Do Animals Have Property Rights?
  • Did the Supreme Court Signal a New Direction in Property Rights in Cedar Point Nursery?
  • Maximizing Relocation Benefits: Understanding the Law and Regulations to Ensure Fairness
  • Challenging Public Use: Lessons From a 67-Day Trial
  • COVID Takings
  • Property Rights as Civil Rights
  • Eminent Domain National Update
  • Federal Court and the Daubert Challenge: How to Prepare
  • How to Position Your Client for the Fallout When Projects Don’t Get Built
  • Rural Broadband and the Emerging Constitutional Challenges
  • Are Precondemnation Entry Statutes Still Valid After Cedar Point Nursery?
  • How Condemnor and Property Owners’ Counsel Prepare the Battlefield
  • How Will the Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Bill Impact Your Practice?
  • Ethics
  • …and more, including a full slate of networking and social events!

We’ve sold out the last few years, so don’t Continue Reading Registration Open Now: ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Jan 26-29, 2022, Scottsdale

All the topics you want to know about, presented by top-notch faculty from across the nation. Sessions include:

  • Property Rights as Civil Rights
  • Eminent Domain National Update
  • Just Relocation: Understanding the Law and Regulations to Ensure Fairness
  • Challenging Public Use: Lessons From a 67-Day Trial
  • COVID Takings
  • Federal Court and the Daubert Challenge: How to Prepare
  • Did the Supreme Court Signal a New Direction in Property Rights in Cedar Point Nursery?
  • How to Position Your Client for the Fallout When Projects Don’t Get Built
  • Rural Broadband and the Emerging Constitutional Challenges
  • Are Precondemnation Entry Statutes Still Valid After Cedar Point Nursery?
  • How Condemnor and Property Owners’ Counsel Prepare the Battlefield
  • How Will the Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Bill Impact Your Practice?
  • Ethics
  • …and more, including a full slate of networking and social events!

We’ve sold out the last few years, so don’t miss out. Room block now taking reservations. Continue Reading Join Us For The 39th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Jan 26-29, 2022 (Scottsdale, AZ)

Programming note: as we noted here, we’ve recently moved our email subscribers to a new service. If you are already subscribed to our email updates you should not need to do anything, except look for the emails coming from Feedblitz, not Feedburner. If you want to sign up for email updates anew, go here. If you experience technical issues, or receive duplicate email notifications, please let me know.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Screenshot 2021-07-26 at 09-25-52 Givens v Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC and the Unresolved Circuit Split

Be sure to take a read of an article we’ve had in our queue to read for a while: Karen Adlay, Givens v. Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC and the Unresolved Circuit Split, 7 Tex. A. & M. J. Prop. L. 137 (2021).

Several federal courts of appeals — including the Fourth Circuit in Givens — have upheld giving prejudgment possession of property to a private pipeline condemnor once a …

Continue Reading New L Rev Article: “Givens v. Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC and the Unresolved Circuit Split” (Tex. A. & M. J. Prop. L.)

DSCF3357

Another takings opinion from the Supreme Court, this time in a (putatively) eminent domain case we’ve been following.

In PennEast Pipeline Co., LLC v. New Jersey, No. 19-1039 (June 20, 2021), the majority (Roberts, CJ, joined by an unusual, cross-aisle lineup of Justices Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, and Kavanaugh) concluded that a private pipeline which has been delegated the federal power of eminent domain in the Natural Gas Act, may, in a federal court lawsuit, condemn property owned by the State of New Jersey. 

The case asked whether New Jersey – not some mere private landowner – can be haled into a federal court as a defendant in a NGA private pipeline taking. The issue isn’t the same as a typical NGA pipeline case in which a private landowner can’t assert Eleventh Amendment immunity. As a consequence, here we witnessed a much different result in the way the lower …

Continue Reading SCOTUS: Eminent Domain Is Eminent Over Everything, Even A State’s 11th Amendment Immunity

Screenshot_2021-05-15 18th Annual Brigham-Kanner Prize Recipient

Mark your calendars for September 30 – October 1, 2021, and join us at the William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia for the 18th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. It’s planned to be in-person, so when we mean “join us” we really mean join us.

This year the Conference will recognize the lifetime work of Professor Vicki Been (NYU Law) with the Brigham–Kanner Property Rights Prize. As noted in the Law School’s press release:

The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize is named in honor of the lifetime contributions to property rights of Toby Prince Brigham, founding partner of Brigham Moore, LLP, and Gideon Kanner, professor of law emeritus at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Brigham died earlier this month in Miami. A true legend in the law, he was esteemed by colleagues for the invaluable counsel, knowledge and skills he possessed and shared so generously. The prize…

Continue Reading Mark Your Calendars: 2021 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, Sept 30-Oct 1 (in-person)

2012-02-06_11-19-51_574

A private pipeline did what pipelines often do: it started negotiating with property owners for the property needed, but at the same time pressed forward. It reached agreement with some owners, others not. It filed “expropriation” lawsuits (for it is in Louisiana that our scene lies). It started to build, even before judgments of expropriation.

Aaslestad, owner of 38.00 acres (more or less) sued the pipeline to enjoin further construction. He also asserted in the expropriation case a counterclaim for due process and trespass (again, this is Louisiana, so they call that a “reconventional demand). Trial followed.

The trial court issued a judgment of expropriation and concluded the takings were for a public purpose. But it also upheld the property owner’s trespass counterclaim. The owner’s interest was pretty minor, so the total award was a whopping $150. Seventy five bucks for the expropriation and the same amount for the trespass.

Continue Reading Louisiana SCT: No Statutory Attorneys’ Fees For Pipeline Taking – But LA Constitution’s Just Comp Clause Requires Owners Recover “The Full Extent” Of Their Loss (Which Includes Fees)

What’s up with that (sorta) snarky headline, you ask? After all, isn’t the PennEast v. New Jersey case, heard yesterday by the Supreme Court, a real honest-to-goodness eminent domain case about a pipeline?

Doesn’t the transcript show terms like “in rem,” “takings,” “eminent” and “eminent domain” were used a whole lot? Aren’t a lot of the media reports saying this is a big eminent domain case (see here and here for example)?

Pages from 19-1039_8758

But read the transcript or a listen to the recording (stream above or download the mp3 here) and see what you think, eminent domain mavens.

If you are like us, you understand that the case isn’t going to tell us a lot about eminent domain generally, or about valuation, or the power to take (except in very limited circumstances). After all, the case asks whether the State of New Jersey – not some mere private landowner – …

Continue Reading Listen (Or Read) As SCOTUS Hears Arguments In A (Sorta) Eminent Domain Case

Goofus-gallant

Yes, it starts tomorrow, Thursday, January 28, 2021, but we’re “remote” this year, so it is not too late to register to join us for the 38th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference. This is the “big one” where the nation’s best practitioners, scholars, jurists, and other industry professionals gather to talk shop about the subjects we know and love.

Details here (ALI-CLE’s page with faculty, agenda, and times), or here (a recent episode of Clint Schumacher’s Eminent Domain Podcast, where we preview the Conference). Here’s your chance to be a part of what is the best conference on these topics.

We have set it up to take advantage of the remote format, and tuition has been reduced (thank you to ALI-CLE for recognizing this, and for our sponsors for being so generous). We’re seeing a lot of first-time registrations, and this is a great opportunity…

Continue Reading Still Time To Join Us: ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Online!) This Thursday & Friday. Tuition Deals! #EminentDomain2021

ALI-CLE 2021 Bingo card

If you “get” this, you should be registered for the 38th Annual Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, to be held remotely on Thursday and Friday, January 28-29, 2021.

The list is growing rapidly, and you need to join us!

This is the “big one” where the nation’s best practitioners, scholars, jurists, and other industry professionals gather to talk shop about the subjects we know and love. We’re having programs with intriguing subjects such as “Planning to Win: Practical Strategies for a Successful Inverse Condemnation Case,” “How Do I Keep My Firm’s Doors Open When the Courthouse Doors Are Closed? Making Your Practice More Efficient When You Can’t Try Cases,” “Where Is the Supreme Court Headed on Takings Cases? Regulatory Takings Update and Cedar Point Preview,” “No Show and All Tell: Breaking News in Property Rights and Takings,” “More Than the Fifth Amendment: Other Tools for Upholding …

Continue Reading Your 2021 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Jan 28-29, Remote) BINGO Card