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Why is it, you ask, that the ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (scheduled next February 1-3, 2024, in New Orleans) is an event that seems to be growing in popularity and attendance. In recent years, we have standing room only in the Conference halls, and have sold out the hotel block. After all, this is a pretty niche area of law. So what gives?

When we were in Austin earlier this year, we thought it might be nice to try and answer that question. We asked Conference participants why they come, year-after-year (and in Austin, despite massive travel disruptions). Yes, it is the various venues (Nashville, Austin, Scottsdale, Palm Springs, to name a few recent locations), and yes, it is the excellent and useful programming.

But as we suspected it is more than that. As the above video notes…

Continue Reading ALI-CLE’s Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Feb 1-3, 2024, New Orleans): Why Attend? Here’s Why.

Smiley

Check out this one from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Smiley First, LLC v. Dep’t of Transportation, No. SJC-13300 (May 23, 2023). [But first, a disclosure: our law firm filed this amicus brief in support of the property owner.]

Now that that is out of the way, here’s the case.

Back in 1991, MassDOT’s predecessor-in-interest took an easement by eminent domain for the relocation of Conrail facilities displaced by the infamous Big Dig project. The 1991 takings order described the easement taken:

“In connection with the laying out of the State highway hereinbefore described, it is necessary to relocate portions of railroad rights of way and land is hereby acquired for said relocation as follows:

“Easements are hereby taken in parcels 60-E-RR-1, 60-E-RR-5, and 60-E-RR-6, shown on the plan hereinafter referred to, for the relocation of facilities of the Consolidated Rail Corporation, including all trees and structures located…

Continue Reading Mass SJC: Big Dig Can’t Squeeze New Easement Into An Old One: Easements Taken By Eminent Domain Are Interpreted Like Every Other Easement

HAWSCT-1

Update: the court has rescheduled the arguments to June 22, 2023, at 10 a.m.

The Hawaii Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in an important eminent domain case about severance damages for the Honolulu Rail Authority’s condemnation of land in Honolulu for one of its stations (assuming, of course, that the under-construction rail line actually gets past downtown, or simply stops where its historic predecessor, the Oahu Railway terminated more than a century ago).

Here’s the details and the court’s description of the issues (scroll to the bottom), from the Hawaii Judiciary’s web site.

[Barista’s note: we won’t be commenting on this one in detail, because this was our case when we were in private practice.]

Thursday May 18, 2023 – 10 a.m.

NOS.

SCAP-22-0000335 (Consolidated with Nos. SCAP-22-0000336,
SCAP-22-0000337, SCAP-22-0000338, SCAP-22-0000340,
SCAP-22-0000341, SCAP-22-0000343 SCAP-22-0000344,
SCAP-22-0000345, AND SCAP-22-0000352)

SCAP-22-0000335, SCAP-22-0000336, SCAP-22-0000337,
SCAP-22-0000340, SCAP-22-0000341, SCAP-22-0000343,
SCAP-22-0000344, AND SCAP-22-0000345

…
Continue Reading Hawaii Supreme Court To Hear Major Severance Damages Appeal In Rail Takings Cases

D Callies Retirement Celebration Invite 4-27-2023.f

Come join us on Thursday, April 27, 2023, from 5-7pm, downtown Honolulu, to celebrate the retirement of Professor David L. Callies from the University of Hawaii Law School.

Join U.H. Law School Dean Camille Nelson, Professor Callies’ colleagues, his students (present and former), the Hawaii legal community, and family and friends as we honor 43 years of scholarship, teaching, service, and practice.

Professor Callies is a prolific scholar and author, and has mentored generations of lawyers. Known especially for his work in property, land use, takings, administrative law, and state and local government law, he has also been presented with numerous awards including William and Mary’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize, and the Owner’s Counsel of America’s Crystal Eagle. 

Invitation and how to RSVP (or click below). Space is limited, so please let us know you are attending as soon as you can.

Details:

Thursday, …

Continue Reading April 27, 2023, 5-7pm, Honolulu: Join Us To Celebrate The Work And Career Of Professor David Callies

40th ALI-CLE

We were eagerly anticipating 40th American Law Institute-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference. The 2022 Conference in Scottsdale was one of the first meetings where everyone was back in-person (and was a smashing success), but that conference was early in the game so not everyone could or would attend. But in the past year most of us got back to some semblance of “normal,” and the turnout promised to be good.

We had record registrations: with over 300 attendees, faculty, and staff signed up, things were shaping up.

Plus, we were headed to Austin, Texas. The last time we held the Conference there in 2016, we loved it so much it has been in-demand for a return visit. And this year is the debut Conference for some new planning co-chairs for both the main tracks as well as the “Condemnation 101” tracks, so the buzz for the…

Continue Reading Ice Ice Baby: A Report From The 40th ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Feb 1-4, 2023, Austin

We really want you there…

One (nearly) last reminder that there’s still time to register for your space at the 40th ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, February 1-4, 2023, in Austin. In the past several years, we have sold out due to the conference room capacity and the conference hotel block. But there’s still space, although we are nearly full. So register now – don’t delay any further! 

Here’s the brochure with the complete agenda, schedule, and faculty listing. But to tempt you, here are some of the highlights of the program:

  • Everything Old is New Again: Why Today’s Practitioners Need to Understand the Original Meaning of the Takings and Just Compensation Clauses
  • When the SWAT Team Comes (No) Knocking: Police Power Takings

  • Private Utility Takeovers – Lessons From a 67 Day Trial

  • “Contraband”: How Property Rights Helped Pave the Way for Civil Rights

  • Valuation

…
Continue Reading (Nearly) Last Call: There’s Still Time To Join Us For The 40th ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Feb 1-4, Austin

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Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following.

Now before you get all worked up about the Texas Supreme Court agreeing that the private company proposing to build a bullet train between Dallas and Houston may exercise the sovereign power of eminent domain (see Miles v. Texas Central RR & Infrastructure, Inc., No. 20-0393 (June 24, 2022), remember that this is a case involving only the construction of Texas statutes. Not the court deciding whether the state’s delegation of eminent domain power conforms to some constitutional public use standard. 

That being said, the opinion may have limited reach (thank goodness) but is still worth reviewing for those of you not in Texas.

Property owners objected to the company taking their property, arguing that it did not qualify under Texas statutes delegating the state’s eminent domain power to a “railroad” and to “interurban electric railways.” This thing may…

Continue Reading Texas: Proposed Bullet Train Is An “Interurban Electric Railway” And May Exercise Eminent Domain (At Least It Isn’t A Fish)

Screenshot 2022-05-02 at 11-51-57 Display event - 2022 Hawaii Land Use Law Conference (LIVE)

It’s back! After a hiatus on the in-person program, the bi-annual Hawaii Land Use Conference is back in-person (see here for a sample of one of our prior presentations at this conference).

May 25 and 26, 2022, downtown Honolulu.

The full agenda and speaker list has not yet been published, but here’s a summary of the program:

Sponsored by the Hawaii State Bar Association and the Real Property and Financial Services Section. Coordinated by David Callies and Benjamin Kudo, his 2-day conference is a must attend for any attorney or professional whose practice involves land use and development. Distinguished land-use practitioners, scholars, planners, and regulators from Hawaii and the Mainland will discuss timely and relevant issues, including:

• Takings 

• Transit Oriented Development (TOD) 

• Seawalls and Shoreline Access 

• Climate Change 

• Affordable/Workforce Housing 

• Ethical Considerations for Real Property Practitioners and Other Professionals

We’ll be speaking during…

Continue Reading Hawaii Land Use Law Conference, May 25-26, 2022, Honolulu – Join Us!

PXL_20220127_144224442

After a two-year absence in which we went remote, in the last week of last month (our usual spot on the calendar, between the playoffs and Super Bowl), we once again met in-person for the American Law Institute-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference.

Approximately 200 lawyers, judges, legal scholars, appraisers, law students, right-of-way agents, relocation experts, property owners, and other related professionals gathered in-person–yes, in-person–at the Scottsdale (Arizona) Resort at McCormick Ranch, to get reacquainted, learn stuff, and renew ties last made in-person in Nashville in 2020. In addition to the live attendance, we also welcomed about 50 remote colleagues, who joined the live webstream.

This was the 39th edition of the Conference, one of the most-established and successful conferences in the ALI-CLE stable of programs.

To those who joined us – thank you. This conference reminded us of why this program is so…

Continue Reading 2022 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Scottsdale: You Should Have Been There!

If you ever get the opportunity to teach in a law school — either as a full-time legal scholar, or part-time as an expert adjunct practitioner — take it if you can. You might think you know a lot about a particular subject, but there’s nothing like spending time at the lectern in a law classroom in front of sharp and eager lawyers-in-training to sharpen your thoughts, and get you to truly understand a subject.

And folks calling you “professor” can evoke a smile.

Sensei

But if there’s one downside to the law school experience from the teacher’s side of the lectern, it’s grading. Especially at a law school like William and Mary that has a pretty strict mandatory curve. In upper-division courses that we handle like Eminent Domain and Property Rights Law and Land Use — where we’re dealing with some very high-level stuff and the quality of the…

Continue Reading The Circle Is Now Complete: A Sampling Of Final Paper Topics From William and Mary Law’s Eminent Domain & Property Rights, And Land Use Courses