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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)

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Under a Massachusetts statute, local redevelopment agencies have the power to respond to “decadent, substandard, and blighted open areas” either by creating an urban renewal project (redeveloping an area pursuant to a “detailed” and “comprehensive” plan; the statute expressly includes the power of eminent domain for urban renewal projects), or by a “demonstration” development (a term not defined by the statute, and therefore lacks an express delegation of eminent domain power).

In Cobble Hill Center LLC v. Somerville Redev. Auth., No. SJC13028 (Apr. 22, 2021), the Supreme Judicial Court addressed an issue left open the last time it dealt with the power of redevelopment agencies: do they have the power to take property by eminent domain when they choose to undertake a “demonstration?” 

Cobble Hill had intended to do its own private redevelopment on its vacant property in Somerville, Massachusetts. But due to some internal disputes, construction…

Continue Reading Mass SJC: New And Improved Means For Blight Elimination Uses Old And Worn Method: Eminent Domain

For you original MTV folks

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following for a while (even since before the last time it went up to the Court). See this post (“The Chicago Way: City Taking Non-Blighted Property For Economic Development Was Not Pretextual Because…Studies“) and this one (“Illinois App: We Haven’t Changed Our Mind – Chicago’s Sketchy Redevelopment Taking Is Still For Public Use“), for example.

After the latest ruling from the Illinois Appellate Court, we guessed that we had not seen the last of the case. And it turns out that our prognostications were accurate: the property owner has filed a cert petition asking once again for the Supreme Court to take up (ha) a Public Use Clause case.

Have I got your attention now?

Five years ago, in City of Chicago v. Eychaner, 26 N.E.3d 501 (Ill. Ct. App. 2015), the…

Continue Reading The Future’s So Blight, I Gotta Wear Shades: New Cert Petition Asks To Reconsider Kelo In A Case Where The Stated Public Use Is To Avoid Possible Future Blight

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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

1o 11 ALI-CLE

Are you a law student interested in takings, eminent domain, land use, environmental, and other dirt-lawyering related topics? If so, good news: thanks to the generosity of ALI-CLE, you can register gratis (free!) for the upcoming 38th Annual Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, to be held remotely on Thursday and Friday, January 28-29, 2021.

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: …

Continue Reading Law Students: Register Free For The 38th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Jan 28-29, 2021)

Our thanks to Clint Schumacher for having us on his program to talk about the upcoming Conference. We’re “remote” this year, but that means a different approach to our presentations (and a very modest tuition!).

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 Property Rights,” “Evaluating Lockdown, Moratorium, and Emergency Claims,” and more (including Ethics for those of you in MCLE jurisdictions). We’ll have a post with more details. 

Register now!Continue Reading Eminent Domain Podcast’s Preview Of The Upcoming ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference

Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in its latest takings case.

Wait, what? Did we miss something? A takings case, argued this week?

No, you didn’t miss a land use or eminent domain case, but one in which Holocaust victims sued Germany in a U.S. court for seizure of property in the Second World War. The issues centered around the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, under which foreign countries are mostly immune from being haled into an American courtroom. But there is an exception for “expropriation,” when property is “taken in violation of international law.”

The plaintiffs argued that their property — artwork and medieval treasures — were literally taken from them by German and Hungarian authorities, so they qualified under the “taken” exception. The German and Hungarian governments, supported by the United States, argued that “taken” means expropriated, as in seized in the sense…

Continue Reading The Latest Supreme Court Takings Case, Argued This Week

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In case you missed any part of it: the recordings of the recent 2020 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference are now available.

Go here for the descriptions of the panels, speakers, and links to the recorded sessions.

This year’s conference, held on October 1-2, opened with the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize being awarded to Professor Henry E. Smith of Harvard Law School. The prize is named in honor of the lifetime contributions of Toby Prince Brigham, founding partner of Brigham Moore, LLP, and Gideon Kanner, professor of law emeritus at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and is presented annually to a scholar, practitioner or jurist whose work affirms the fundamental importance of property rights.

Topics covered: “Where Theory Meets Practice: A Tribute to Henry E. Smith,” “The Housing Crisis,” “Emerging Issues in Takings and Eminent Domain Law,” “The Reach of Government’s Confiscatory Powers over Exigencies and Emergencies,” and “The…

Continue Reading Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Videos Now Available