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Please plan on joining us next Wednesday, November 3, 2021, at 8pm ET for the next gathering of the Eminent Domain and Right of Way Club, a social media gathering spot “geared toward right of way professionals as well as anyone interested in the acquisition of land rights for infrastructure projects.” Register for the (free) Clubhouse App here.

I must say that I’m intrigued by this newfangled “clubhouse” thing, and from what I gather it is a place for those who share interest in a topic to talk a bit of shop in a friendly and informal environment. What’s nice about this group is that it isn’t necessarily geared only towards condemnation lawyers (who are welcome, but not the center of gravity), but includes all of the other professionals involved in the industry. 

The topic of the day for this meeting is something near and dear to my

Continue Reading Join Us – Wed, Nov 3, 2021 (8pm ET) – Eminent Domain & Right-of-Way Club

All the topics you want to know about, presented by top-notch faculty from across the nation. Sessions include:

  • Keynote: Do Animals Have Property Rights?
  • Did the Supreme Court Signal a New Direction in Property Rights in Cedar Point Nursery?
  • Maximizing Relocation Benefits: Understanding the Law and Regulations to Ensure Fairness
  • Challenging Public Use: Lessons From a 67-Day Trial
  • COVID Takings
  • Property Rights as Civil Rights
  • Eminent Domain National Update
  • Federal Court and the Daubert Challenge: How to Prepare
  • How to Position Your Client for the Fallout When Projects Don’t Get Built
  • Rural Broadband and the Emerging Constitutional Challenges
  • Are Precondemnation Entry Statutes Still Valid After Cedar Point Nursery?
  • How Condemnor and Property Owners’ Counsel Prepare the Battlefield
  • How Will the Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Bill Impact Your Practice?
  • Ethics
  • …and more, including a full slate of networking and social events!

We’ve sold out the last few years, so don’t Continue Reading Registration Open Now: ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Jan 26-29, 2022, Scottsdale

All the topics you want to know about, presented by top-notch faculty from across the nation. Sessions include:

  • Property Rights as Civil Rights
  • Eminent Domain National Update
  • Just Relocation: Understanding the Law and Regulations to Ensure Fairness
  • Challenging Public Use: Lessons From a 67-Day Trial
  • COVID Takings
  • Federal Court and the Daubert Challenge: How to Prepare
  • Did the Supreme Court Signal a New Direction in Property Rights in Cedar Point Nursery?
  • How to Position Your Client for the Fallout When Projects Don’t Get Built
  • Rural Broadband and the Emerging Constitutional Challenges
  • Are Precondemnation Entry Statutes Still Valid After Cedar Point Nursery?
  • How Condemnor and Property Owners’ Counsel Prepare the Battlefield
  • How Will the Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Bill Impact Your Practice?
  • Ethics
  • …and more, including a full slate of networking and social events!

We’ve sold out the last few years, so don’t miss out. Room block now taking reservations. Continue Reading Join Us For The 39th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Jan 26-29, 2022 (Scottsdale, AZ)

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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

Go on, read the facts in the California Court of Appeal’s (unpublished) opinion in San Joaquin Regional Transit District v. Superior Court, No. C084755 (Dec. 1, 2020). It’s worth your time, believe us.

After chasing from California a long-standing manufacturing and service business (to Illinois) by instituting condemnation proceedings on the property on which its Stockton plant was located and then obtaining immediate possession, the District changed its mind and abandoned the taking. The owner sought damages under a statute (Cal. Code of Civ. P. § 1386.620).

The District argued that it was not liable for all damages proximately caused by the proceeding, because the owner had not “moved from the property.”

Wait, you say, I thought you just told me that the condemnor obtained possession of the property? Yes, it did, in two phases. First, the District and the owner stipulated to possession of the property subject

Continue Reading After Telling Owner To Beat It, Condemnor Acts Surprised That It Did. Cal Ct App: “Moving” From Property Does Not Mean “Completely Physically Dispossessed”

When an opinion starts off with “[t]his case offers a feast of legal issues – ranging from procedural to constitutional – but its main course is a cautionary tale to government entities: they must follow the exact statutory requirements for bringing a condemnation action[,]” you just know that you have to read the entire thing.

That’s exactly what we recommend with the Utah Court of Appeals’ opinion in Salt Lake City Corp. v. Kunz, No. 20190010-CA (Oct. 16, 2020). The court concluded that when a statute requires that a condemnor provide the property owner with at least 10 days written notice and an opportunity to be heard before the condemnor takes a final vote to approve exercising eminent domain, “substantial compliance” isn’t sufficient. We make this recommendation that although this sort of statutory requirement is quite common — as are examples of condemning agencies not strictly adhering to

Continue Reading Utah App: “All bets are off for any actions other than exactness.” Close Enough Isn’t Good Enough In Condemnation – When The Statute Requires Notice To Property Owners Within 10 Days, It Means 10 Days

Check this out, a recent case on the Uniform Relocation Act from the Ohio Supreme Court. Does it conflict with a decision that goes the other way from the West Virginia Supreme Court, or is it consistent with a South Dakota decision (cert. denied in that one, by the way)? Read on and find out.

In State ex rel. New Wen Inc. v. Marchbanks, No. 2017-0813 (Oct. 14, 2020), the property owner prevailed on an inverse condemnation case in the Ohio Supreme Court. (Well, not technically an “inverse condemnation” case because Ohio doesn’t recognize such a claim when a government action has de facto taken property; instead, the property owner applies to the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus to compel the government to institute eminent domain.) But no matter – the property owner (a Wendy’s restaurant) won its takings case in the Ohio Supreme

Continue Reading Ohio: Uniform Relocation Act Doesn’t Require Fee-Shifting For Inverse Cases (Lower Court Split Alert?)

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In between talking about eminent domain-y songs, the goofy cult film “Snakes on a Plane” (yes, we really do have a cast-signed poster of that film in our office), and other fun stuff, we returned to the Pendulum Land Podcast for part II of our guest spot, where we also discussed Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Commonwealth, No. CL15-623 (July 30, 2020), a recent decision from a Virginia trial court about regulatory takings and “damagings.” 

[Stream the podcast above, or better yet, subscribe and become a regular listener. The podcast is both entertaining and informative.]

The Virginia Uranium case involves a long-standing — but “temporary” — moratorium on uranium mining, and the court’s order analyzes Palazollo, the Salt-peter case (Lord Coke alert!), Penn Central, and Lucas.

The court concluded that the inability to mine uranium was a damaging under the Virginia Constitution because it “directly

Continue Reading In Which We Return To The Pendulum Land Podcast To Talk “Snakes on a Plane,” Eminent Domain Songs, And What Might Be Virginia’s First True Regulatory Takings Case