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Great crowd today in Austin for CLE International’s Eminent Domain seminar, co-chaired by our colleagues Chris Clough, Sejin Brooks, and Christopher Oddo. We spoke about “National Trends and Developing Issues in Eminent Domain.” 

Here are the cases I referred to which are not included in your written materials:

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Continue Reading Materials And Links From Today’s Austin Eminent Domain CLE

Who among us doesn’t possess a lot of goodwill for doughnuts? We know we sure do. 

So when we think of “Los Angeles,” what comes to mind: sunshine, beaches, Hollywood, and sprawl? No. What comes to mind are chili, hot dogs, and doughnuts. Those items — more precisely, the roadside architecture which establishments that hawk these foods employ — just sing “LA” to us. Especially doughnuts.

So the California Court of Appeal’s recent opinion in Los Angeles County Metro. Transit Authority v. Yum Yum Donut Shops, Inc., No. B276280 (Feb. 26, 2019) grabbed our attention. And not just for its spelling of “donut,” because the case involved a donut shop, and the recovery in eminent domain for the loss of business goodwill, two things we love.   

There, the MTA condemned a doughnut — donut — shop in central LA. Store 58 to…

Continue Reading Cal App Finds Goodwill For Donuts: Shop Owner Entitled To Loss Of Goodwill Damages, Even Where It Has Not Mitigated The Entire Loss

Psweather

If you didn’t register to attend the 36th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference later this week in Palm Springs, California, well then, shame on you!

According to the National Weather Service, while you and the rest of the country is freezing, we’ll be enjoying the balmy desert climes, and discussing the topics we love: eminent domain, redevelopment, relocation, regulatory takings, trial and appeal strategies, doctrinal changes on the horizon, hot topics (border wall, pipelines, wildfires, and flooding), and others. 

Featuring a national faculty (many new to the ALI-CLE dais), and attendees from the entire spectrum of practice, academia, and the bench. 

If you are not joining us, be sure to follow along on the blog (we will post updates daily), and on Twitter (@invcondemnation, @ALI_CLE #EminentDomain2019). And plan on joining us in 2020, when we’ll be in a new city (by…

Continue Reading ALI-CLE Palm Springs (72º, Sunny) Here We Come

Don’t Miss the 2019 Eminent Domain Litigation Conference from American Law Institute CLE on Vimeo.

Check out this sound blurb, produced by the good media folks at ALI-CLE, about the upcoming Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference. (And no, we didn’t record this in a jazz club; although I wish we had.)

There’s still time to register, and come and join us in Palm Springs. Continue Reading Hot (Eminent Domain) Topics, Cool Jazz

Our colleague and co-planning chair Joe Waldo was in town yesterday, so we walked through historic Williamsburg, Virginia (cradle of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights), to invite you to join us for the 36th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (January 24-26, 2019, in Palm Springs, California).

As we wrote in this post, the Conference will feature the nation’s best eminent domain faculty, presenting on the topics we love.

Register now here. Early registration and group discounts available. The 2018 Conference in Charleston sold out, so be sure to sign up now so you don’t miss out. Continue Reading Join Us For The 36th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference In Palm Springs (Jan 24-26, 2019)

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Here are the cases and other items I either spoke about or mentioned at today’s Transportation Research Board‘s 57th Annual Workshop on Transportation Law in Cambridge, Massachusetts:

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Continue Reading Links And Materials From Today’s Transportation Research Board Session

Our upcoming American Law Institute-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference in Charleston, South Carolina has SOLD OUT our in-person registrations. 

We will have a record attendance (with over 100 first-time attendees) and the conference hotel has informed us that we can fit no more people in the meeting rooms. We cannot remember this happening before, but it tells us that we will have an energizing and exciting conference. 

Thank you to all of you who signed up and are coming or joining in online for the webcast — we’ll see you soon at the “four corners of the law.”

And if you delayed too long in registering, please don’t despair. You can still attend from home or the office because ALI has set up a live webcast of the sessions. Go here for more on how to sign up to attend by webcast.

And stay…

Continue Reading ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Conference – In-Person Registration SOLD OUT (But You Can Still Join By Live Webcast)

A recent report in Honolulu Civil Beat asks the question: “Why Isn’t Honolulu Helping Businesses Hurt By Rail Construction?” (The Civil Beat editorial board asks the same question.)

According to the report:

Two years ago, the Honolulu City Council created a fund to help businesses hurt by construction of the 20-mile long rail project. But there was a hitch: the council never appropriated any money for it.

Then last April, the council put a line item in the budget for fiscal year 2018, which began July 1 and ends June 30, offering $2 million in property tax breaks to businesses suffering losses from work on the rail line.

With five months left to go in the fiscal year and no effort to distribute those tax breaks, that offer is looking like an empty promise.

The Civil Beat story continues with reports of failing businesses, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid…

Continue Reading “Why Isn’t Honolulu Helping Businesses Hurt By Rail Construction?” (Because It Doesn’t Want To, And No One Is Making It)

HNLrail

The work on what turned out to be the first phase on Honolulu’s billions-of-dollars rail project from Kapolei to the Ala Moana Shopping Center isn’t even close to being done yet, but the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation looks like it is thinking ahead to Phase 2, and extending the line from the shopping center to the University of Hawaii in Manoa (where the commuting students are), or maybe Waikiki (where the tourists are). 

We say “what turned out to be the first phase,” because you will recall that as originally conceived the rail would run from Kapolei to the UH, but was then scaled back when that plan was too expensive, too ambitious. Now that the election is behind us, and the money sort of is flowing again, maybe not. 

Problem is, there’s a lot of residential and commercial development between the shopping center and the UH and Waikiki…

Continue Reading Project Announcement: Honolulu Rail May Be Coming To A Neighborhood Near You

ALI-CLE2018

It’s not too early to reserve your spot at the 35th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, to be held at the Francis Marion Hotel in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, January 25-27, 2018. 

We’re finalizing the Conference details, but can report that the program will, as usual, feature expert presenters from across the nation, and both an in-depth update on the subjects we love, and a “101” track for those new to the field or who would appreciate a refresher. Check out some of the topics:

  • Takings and Damaging by Flood: Case Selection Advice For Savvy Practitioners
  • Quarterbacking the Case: Blocking Defenses, Controlling the Witnesses, and Converting for Verdicts
  • We’ve Been Working on the Railroad: Utility Crossing Disputes
  • Protecting Your Record,and Anticipating Appeals
  • Lucas 25 Years Later: Property Rights in the Age of Global Warming
  • Building and Growing Your Eminent Domain Practice With

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Continue Reading 2018 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain Conference: Early-Bird Registration Discount Now Posted