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To those of you who joined us at the ABA’s Land Use, Planning, and Development Forum, thank you. Here are links to some of the topics I mentioned: 

Those of you who couldn’t make it can get the recording on CD or mp3 here in a couple of weeks, once it is produced.  

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Continue Reading Links From Today’s Land Use, Planning, And Development Forum

There’s still time to register and attend the upcoming seminar,”Hawaii’s Shoreline and Coastal Law and Regulation.” It’s scheduled for Friday, July 18, 2014, in downtown Honolulu at the YWCA. Here’s the description:

This program will cover recent Hawaii case law, including the recent Hawaii Supreme Court decision regarding identifying the certified shoreline. Now, more than ever, with the realization that we need to plan for the impacts caused by our changing climate, existing regulations and policies will need to change.

Join Program Chair Jesse K. Souki, First Deputy of the State of Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. He leads an outstanding faculty for these topics:

  • Natural and Anthropogenic Shoreline Change in Hawaii and Field Methods for Locating the Certified Shoreline
  • Land Use Laws Affecting Coastal Development in Hawaii
  • Recent Hawaii Case Law
  • The Changing Face of Public Policy: Legislative Issues and Dilemmas
  • Understanding the Regulatory

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Continue Reading Upcoming CLE: Hawaii’s Shoreline and Coastal Law and Regulation

There’s still time to register for one or more upcoming CLE programs sponsored by the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law:

I’ll be part of the “Hot Topics in Land Use” panel, speaking about recent developments in regulatory takings. These are replays of the in-person programs we put on at the recent Spring Meeting in Asheville, NC.

Register for all three programs and receive a 20% discount. Continue Reading Upcoming CLE Trifecta: Hot Topics In Land Use Law, Heirs Property, Urban Ag (July 15, 2014)

Like a visiting relative who won’t go home, the idea to seize underwater-but-performing mortgages is still hanging on. The llatest chapter is brought to us by way of our New York colleague Mike Rikon, who writes:

At a press conference on the steps of City Hall, City Council members and housing advocacy groups called on the Mayor to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure. Such help would come in the form of using eminent domain to “buy back mortgages where homeowners owe more than their houses are worth.”

According to a CBS report on June 25, 2014, “under the proposed plan, City government would purchase the mortgages from banks and refinance them to match the home’s value to prevent foreclosure.” 

Mike notes that nearly two years ago (and several times since), we suggested that this plan was not clearly legal, and even if it were, was not…

Continue Reading Farpotshket Alert: Plan To Take Mortgages By Eminent Domain Is Back

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ALI-CLE, the good folks who put on the annual programs on Eminent Domain and Land Valuation, and Condemnation 101: How to Prepare and Present an Eminent Domain Case, have announced the dates and venue for the 2015 conferences:

Thursday – Saturday, February 5-7, 2015 

Hotel Nikko, in San Francisco.

Those of you who have attended or taught at these conferences in the past know they are the premier programs on this topic, and feature exciting presentations and excellent faculty.

I’ve been honored to be asked to serve as the Planning Co-chair of the 32d annual Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation program, stepping into the able shoes of Leslie Fields, who retired last year. Joe Waldo is continuing as Planning Co-Chair. Joe and I are currently putting together the agenda and faculty for the program, and we will have more on that soon. Andrew…

Continue Reading Mark Your Calendars: 2015 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation, and Condemnation 101 – February 5-7, 2015, San Francisco

Earlier this year, we co-chaired the Hawaii Agriculture Conference, and one of the hottest items on the agenda was the “GMO” issue, now brewing in at least two Hawaii courts (the Kauai ordinance was challenged in federal court, while the Big Island ordinance was challenged in the Third Circuit). 

We’re not alone, and the Supreme Court of Western Australia recently issued a decision holding that a farmer who used GMO canola seeds was not liable when some of hs stuff blew over into his neighbor’s organic farm. The organic farmer claimed that the contamination resulted in him losing his organic certification on a large percentage of his land, and brought a nuisance claim. The court rejected the argument, holding it was lawful to grow GM crops, and the farmer’s practice “was entirely orthodox,” even if it resulted in contamination: 

Mr Baxter [the GMO farmer] had…

Continue Reading Western Australia Supreme Court: GMO “Contamination?” No Worries, Mate

We’re straying outside the usual subjects of this blog (but not that far, since we also do a lot of work related to municipal governments and constitutional law). 

Our “home” in the American Bar Association is the Section of State & Local Government Law (we’re Chair of the Section’s Eminent Domain Law group), has put together a webinar about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway that may be of interest to. Here’s a description of the program:

“To pray or not to pray?” That was the question in Town of Greece v. Galloway, a case in which a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court held that town council meetings could open with a prayer without violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. This program, featuring a panel of nationally-recognized expert practitioners and scholars, will take a first look at the various opinions issued by the…

Continue Reading CLE Of Interest: “Legislative Prayer, Tradition, and the Establishment Clause”

Mark your calendars for next week Thursday, May 22, 2014. ALI-CLE, the good folks who put on our annual Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation and Eminent Domain 101 conferences, are sponsoring the above-titled teleconference/webinar. Here’s the program description:

The City of Richmond, California rattled the universe of real estate lenders, trustees, owners, bankers, investors, and insurers (particularly those of residential mortgage backed securities (“RMBS”)), when it proposed to use its eminent domain power for debt relief for homeowners with “underwater” mortgages on residential real property.

Richmond’s proposal has prompted other government entities to consider the plan. They claim that using eminent domain power in this way would benefit the public by providing debt relief for homeowners and help for communities with depressed residential real estate prices. The plan, if adopted by cities and allowed by the courts, would have profound effects on the RMBS, real estate, title insurance…

Continue Reading Upcoming CLE Of Note: Using Eminent Domain To Seize Underwater Mortgages – Legal Issue and Current Realities

Back in October, we had the honor of moderating a discussion about the ripeness issue in takings law at the 40th Anniversary Symposium on The Takings Issue at Touro Law School (see here and here for more). Professor Vicki Been and Pacific Legal Foundation’s J. David Breemer were the panelists, each weighing in on how Williamson County came to be, and what future the rule may have, if any. 

The Touro Law Review has now published Dave’s article, “The Rebirth of Federal Takings Review? The Courts’ ‘Prudential’ Answer to Williamson County’s Flawed State Litigation Ripeness Requirement.” Here’s the summary:

This article addresses recent developments in the law of takings arising from the courts’ application of the rule, articulated in Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 185 (1985), that a property owner must sue for damages in state court to ripen a Fifth Amendment takings …

Continue Reading New Article Of Note: The Rebirth of Federal Takings Review? The Courts’ ‘Prudential’ Answer to Williamson County’s Flawed State Litigation Ripeness Requirement

Each year, the William and Mary Law School’s Property Rights Project awards the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize to a deserving person “whose work affirms that property rights are fundamental to protecting and preserving individual liberty.” This list of past recipients is an All-Star roster of property scholars and jurists, including lawprofs Frank Michelman, Richard Epstein, James Ely, Carol Rose, Thomas Merrill, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. 

The Project just announced that Michael Berger has been selected as the 2014 recipient of the Prize. As noted, Mike “is the first practicing lawyer to receive the prize and is widely considered to be among the best takings lawyers in the nation.” The Prize will be presented at the 11th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, on October 30-31, 2014 at the Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

Here’s the full story:

Berger to Receive 2014 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize

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Continue Reading Mike Berger To Receive 2014 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize From William & Mary Law School