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35th Annual Advanced Course

Logo_150pxEminent Domain and
Land Valuation Litigation

Live Program | Video Webcast | Video Webcast Segments

Thursday – Saturday, January 25 – 27, 2018
Francis Marion Hotel | Charleston, SC

Do not miss this popular conference! Intended for all eminent domain and land use practitioners, both experienced and those new to the practice. You can even customize the unique curriculum to work for you: freely go between the Advanced and 101 tracks, with additional tracks for Practice and Substantive law.

With a faculty of national experts who offer both condemnor and property owner perspectives, this is the big program, and the one you don’t want to miss.

Recognized and experienced professionals representing the diverse stakeholders in these cases will discuss the issues hitting your desk today or in the future, including:

  • Overlap of condemnation and regulatory takings: Murr and other blurred lines
  • Takings and damaging by flood

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Continue Reading ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Conference – There’s Still Time To Join Us In Charleston

IMG_20171211_090714This photo of the view from the lectern at the start of the day
proves we really were in the room and not distracted by all the distractions
possible in Las Vegas

Here are the materials and cases which I spoke about earlier today at the CLE International Eminent Domain Conference in Las Vegas. I had the lead off session on updates, and my talk focused on cases that I didn’t cover in the written materials:

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Continue Reading Links And Materials From Today’s Las Vegas Eminent Domain Conference

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

ALI 2018 header

ALI-CLE has posted up the early bird registration page for the 2018 edition of the Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, to be held January 25-27, 2018 in an exciting new venue, Charleston, South Carolina. 

We are putting the agenda and faculty together for the Conference (which, as always, will include the Condemnation 101 track for those new to eminent domain practice, or who could use a refresher course). There’s a lot going on in our field, and we will put out the details and ALI will update the site once we finalize everything.  

There’s a benefit to early registration: this year’s conference in San Diego was at capacity, and signing up now will both reserve your spot, and get a discounted registration fee. Continue Reading 2018 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation (Charleston, SC) Early-Bird Discount Registration Open

ABA State and Local 2017-2017 conferences image

Mark your calendars for this Friday, June 16, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time for a free talk we’ll be giving, “Regulatory Takings: Emerging Issues.” 

Yes, it’s free, but there’s a catch: this talk is sponsored by the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law’s Land Use Committee, and you have to be a Section member (or be willing to join us). One of the benefits of being a member is that you can sign on to these bi-monthly calls and learn about the latest developments in the broad range of topics the Committee covers. Ping me if you want to sign up.  

And what’s the deal with the graphic above? Well, starting in August 2017, I’ll be taking over as Chair of the Section (assuming my ABA colleagues do not come to their senses before then), and the big focus of the Chair is to…

Continue Reading Upcoming Free Takings Talk (Friday, June 16, 2017). But There’s A Catch…

Honolulu Civil Beat has an interesting editorial today about the Honolulu rail project, the 20-station, 21-mile elevated steel-on-steel project now being built at a cost that was first projected at about $3.8 billion, and at last count is somewhere in the $8 – $11 billion range.

The editorial, “Honolulu Rail: City Needs To Get It Together Or Give It Up,” posits that the “perpetually beleaguered rail project is still at least $2 billion short,” and “the absence of any decisive leadership … leav[es] taxpayers on ‘a never ending hook.'” The City, the piece argues, needs to get its act together, because the people, “are by no means past the point of no return,” and substantially modifying, or even killing the project and rebooting should not be ruled out.  

In our opinion, none of that will happen. Now that we are past the recent election — yet another…

Continue Reading Rickrolling Rail

IMG_20170323_095056

We were in the neighborhood recently, so our Canadian colleague Shane Rayman suggested we pay a visit to the site of the largest expropriation (taking) of land in that country’s history, and what has been described as “the largest population displacement … since the 18th-century expulsion of the Acadians from the Maritimes.” 

We’re talking about Montreal’s Mirabel International Airport, located about an hour north of the city.

You’ve flown into Montreal and don’t know this airport, you say? Well, here’s the (short) story and some pictures. For the longer tale, start with the wikipedia entry, the hit up these news reports:

In the 1960’s, Montreal was booming. It was Canada’s…

Continue Reading “A Total Disaster From Start To Finish” – Expropriation And Economic Development, Canadian Style

The Sixth Circuit’s majority opinion in Wayside Church v. Van Buren County, No. 15-2463 (Feb. 10, 2017) isn’t all that exciting — after all, it was a takings case brought in federal court, and you know what that means: Williamson County — but do give it a read. The facts are somewhat unusual, even if the court’s ultimate conclusion is not.

It involved the intricacies of Michigan’s General Property Tax Act, a statute which allows municipalities to the foreclose on properties that are delinquent in paying property taxes. The municipalities are allowed to auction off the properties and keep the money, even if the auction proceeds exceed the delinquent taxes. That’s what happened here.

Wayside didn’t pay its property taxes, the County foreclosed, obtained fee simple title, and auctioned the property. The sales price of $206,000 exceeded the minimum bid price, which had been calculated by adding up the back…

Continue Reading 6th Circuit: Michigan Statute Allows Recovery Of Money, So Takings Claim Not Ripe For Federal Court

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

IMG_20170126_133958

Here are the links and references to the cases we spoke about today at our opening session on the national trends in eminent domain law at the 2017 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference in San Diego. 

We again have a record attendance, and a good number of new attendees. If you aren’t here now, we’re sorry you didn’t make it. But fear not: ALI-CLE has already set the date and location for the 2018 Conference: save the date on your calendars now — January 25-27, 2018, Charleston, South Carolina, at the Francis Marion Hotel. 

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Continue Reading Day 1, 2017 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, San Diego