Regulatory takings

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Here’s the latest complaint in a long train of complaints alleging that a COVID-related shutdown or moratorium is a taking or damaging of private property for public use.

This time, it’s from Northern California wine country (Napa County Superior Court, to be specific), and the taking claims (skip to page 19 if you want to cut to the takings chase) only seeks relief under the California Constitution (“Private property may be taken or damaged for public use and only when just compensation, ascertained by a jury unless waived, has first been paid to, or into court for, the owner.”).

The complaint alleges:

91.    Coalition members have property interests in their respective outdoor-service restaurants, wineries, and related businesses. Prohibiting them from reopening for outdoor service while allowing similarly-situated businesses to reopen for indoor customer service, and without recourse or protection from arbitrary enforcement, constitutes a taking of their property under the California…

Continue Reading New Complaint: Shutdown Is A (California) Taking Or Damaging Of Wine Country Restaurants

25 Years of PASH_Schedule

Mention the term “PASH” to any dirt lawyer in the 50th State, and they’ll nod in understanding. It’s an 808 shibboleth — a kind of local property password — that signals that you’ve been around the block and know your stuff.

On one hand, it is simply an acronym for Public Access Shoreline Hawaii, the plaintiff/petitioner in the (in)famous case Public Access Shoreline Hawaii v. Hawaii Cnty. Planning Comm’n, 903 P.2d 1246 (Haw. 1995). On the other, however, it has evolved into shorthand for a number of things: from the technically accurate – native Hawaiian customary and traditional rights and practices under the Hawaii Constitution (“I was chasing a pua’a on private property, so I cannot be convicted of trespass because I was exercising my PASH rights”); to generically and cheekily – the ability to access the beach and shoreline (“Surf’s up today, let’s go practice some PASH rights!”)…

Continue Reading PASH Bash: U. Hawaii Law Review Symposium – “25 Years of PASH” (Feb. 5, 2021)

There are two main rationales supporting the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court’s opinion in Pileggi v. Newton Township, No. 1279 CD 2019 (Jan. 5, 2021), holding that the Township’s denial of a permit was not a taking. The first, in our view, is simply wrong. The second is perhaps more supportable, but still troubling.

This is a case about a gong. No, not the brass instrument gong, but the other type. Pennsylvania law requires the Township to have a waste plan. Under the plan, a landowner can make proposals for how she can develop in accordance with the plan, or if she can show that the plan doesn’t meet the property’s needs she may submit a private request to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, or in some circumstances an owner may request a permit to build a sewage disposal facility on site.

Starting back in 2003, the property owners…

Continue Reading The PA Gong Show: No Taking When Gov’t Exercising Police Power (Say What?)

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

If you are lacking good things to read, fear not: thanks to amici curiae, you now have boocoo merits-stage friend-of-the-court briefs (16!) on your plate.

This is the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court is considering the nature of physical invasion takings, and how permanent a permanent intrusion must be in order to qualify for Loretto and Kaiser Aetna-ish per se treatment. In Cedar Point Nursery v. Shiroma, 923 F.3d 524 (May 8, 2019), a 2-1 panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a complaint for failure to plausibly state a takings claim under Twombly/Iqbal. At issue was a regulation adopted by California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board which requires agricultural employees to open their land to labor union organizers. The regulation is framed as protecting the rights of ag employees to “access by union organizers to the premises of an agricultural…

Continue Reading No Shortage Of Amicus Briefs In SCOTUS Physical Invasion Takings Case

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)

As we surmised when the Supreme Court in Knick reopened the door to the federal courthouse for federal takings claims, those of us who do this stuff would be wise to dust off the Federal Courts treatises that we’d put on the high shelf on the bookshelf since Williamson County.

The Sixth Circuit’s opinion in CHKRS, LLC v. City of Dublin, No. 20-3435 (Jan. 4, 2021) focused on the difference between whether the plaintiff alleged Article III standing, and whether it alleged a property interest protected by the Takings Clause. CHKRS’s federal complaint claimed the city violated the Takings Clause “when it tore out a property’s driveway and replaced it with a defective driveway without paying compensation.” Slip op. at 2. At the time of the city’s conduct, CHKRS possessed a lease in the land, and by the time of the federal lawsuit, it had exercised its…

Continue Reading CA6: It’s Property, Not Standing, In Federal Takings Cases

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

Here’s the property owners’ Brief on the Merits in the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court is considering the nature of physical invasion takings, and how permanent a permanent intrusion must be in order to qualify for Loretto and Kaiser Aetna-ish per se treatment.

In Cedar Point Nursery v. Shiroma, 923 F.3d 524 (May 8, 2019), a 2-1 panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a complaint for failure to plausibly state a takings claim under Twombly/Iqbal. At issue was a regulation adopted by California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board which requires agricultural employees to open their land to labor union organizers. The regulation is framed as protecting the rights of ag employees to “access by union organizers to the premises of an agricultural employer for the purpose of meeting and talking with employees and soliciting their support.”

The Ninth Circuit panel majority…

Continue Reading Prunes And Raisins And The Cedar Point Merits Brief: “Regular And Predictable” Invasions Of Property Are Per Se Takings, Even If Not 24/7