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Mark your calendars: on August 21, 2013, The Seminar Group is putting on the 2d Annual Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law Conference, in Honolulu (Hilton Waikiki Beach). Our Damon Key partner Mark M. Murakami is the Planning Chair, and the rest of the faculty is pretty good, too. 

We’ll be speaking at two of the sessions: “Honolulu Rail Litigation Update – EIS and Acquisitions,” and “The Evolving Process of Eminent Domain – Condemnation Update; Recent Court Decisions of Interest.”

These topics will also be covered:

  • Contractor Licensing Update
  • Planning Update – Development Near the Right of Way
  • Uniform Relocation Act Benefits
  • Rail Development and Property Valuation
  • Ethics in Eminent Domain: Obligations of Condemnor’s and Condemnee’s Counsel

More information here. Download the brochure here, or below.

Hope you can join us for another great program.

2d Annual Eminent Domain & Condemnation in Hawaii – Aug 21, 2013 – Honolulu Continue Reading Eminent Domain And Condemnation Law Conference (Honolulu, Aug. 21, 2013)

HSBAappellate
Earlier this week, I spoke to the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section about amicus briefing, along with Daniel Gluck, Senior Staff Attorney at ACLU Hawaii.

I appeared by videoconference, and we were able to record my remarks. The handout and links I mention are posted here.

Stream it here:

HSBA-appellate-amicus-briefing-thomas-5-2013

Or download it here (right-click, “save as” – 27 minutes, 12mb mp3)
Continue Reading Audio Of HSBA Appellate Section CLE On Amicus Briefing

Here is the handout (2 pages) from today’s CLE program on Amicus Briefing, sponsored by the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section.

Links to the briefs mentioned are also posted here.

Update: here’s the audio of my remarks.

Amicus Briefing – Hawaii State Bar Association, Appellate Law Section – CLE 5-20-2013


Continue Reading Materials And Links From Today’s HSBA Appellate Section CLE On Amicus Briefing

HSBAappellateOn Monday, May 20, 2013, I’ll be speaking at the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section’s monthly meeting, on “Amicus Briefing.”

Sorry for the short notice, but I am a last-minute substitution since one of the original panelists, retired Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson, is under the weather and cannot attend. The other panelist is Daniel Gluck, a Senior Staff Attorney with ACLU Hawaii. Should be a fun and interesting discussion.

In my portion of the program, I’ll be discussing the how’s and why’s, the do’s and don’t’s of amicus participation in state and federal courts, with an emphasis on U.S. and Hawaii Supreme Court practice. We’ll also be entertaining questions from the audience.

Because this is a late-hour pinch hit and I am on the road, I’ll be appearing by video conference. Should make it even more interesting. For those of you who cannot attend in-person…

Continue Reading HSBA Appellate Section: Amicus Briefing

Cle-logoFor those of you attending the Virginia Eminent Domain Conference, here’s the expanded papers on “Tough Takings Questions: Regulatory Takings, Zoning Issues and Judicial Takings” and Public Use issues.

Use the password provided at the conference to open the pdf’s. It’s the same p/w for both. If you forgot the password, email me.

For those who did not attend, sorry folks, there are some benefits to coming to a conference! Y’all are going to have to wait for a bit — after a decent interval to allow the attendees to get their money’s worth, we’ll remove the password.

For more about the cases and books we discussed yesterday during my presentation on “Virginia’s Place in National Eminent Domain Trends, check these out:

  • Lingle v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005) (gas station rent control, and the demise of the “substantially advance” test as a takings test).

     
    Continue Reading Materials From Today’s Virginia Eminent Domain Conference

    Cle-logoThose of you on the east coast (or, who wouldn’t mind a visit to a very beautiful part of Virginia), mark your calendars: on April 25 and 26, 2013, CLE International is presenting the 7th Annual Virginia Eminent Domain Conference – Local, State, and National Trends at the Tides Inn in Irvington, Virginia.

    My Owner’s Counsel of America colleague Joe Waldo, the Planning Chair for the conference, has kindly asked me to deliver the Keynote Presentation to speak about “Virginia’s Place in National Eminent Domain Trends.” The following day, I’ll also be presenting a one-hour session on “Tough Takings Questions: Regulatory Takings, Zoning Issues and Judicial Takings” featuring the latest updates in those areas.

    Joe and colleagues have assembled a talented and varied faculty, so please join us for two days worth of great CLE. Download the full brochure or the short version postcard, or, for complete…

    Continue Reading 7th Annual Virginia Eminent Domain Conference (April 25-26, 2013)

    (We’re not sure who captured and posted the above video — wasn’t us — but to whomever did so, thank you.)

    Earlier this week, our colleague Mark M. Murakami spoke at the University of Hawaii Law School on a panel about “The PLDC and Property Rights in Hawaii.” PLDC refers to the Public Land Development Corporation, a state agency created in 2011 to develop state-owned lands, primarily in concert with private entities. Since its formation, the PLDC has become highly controversial, and the Hawaii Senate recently voted to repeal it.

    Joining Mark on the panel were Professor Shelley Saxer (Pepperdine); Marti Townsend, Executive Director of the Outdoor Circle; and Chris Lee, State House of Representatives member.

    In the event you don’t want to view the entire session, we’ve put Mark’s remarks and his responses to audience questions in a separate (high-quality) audio file, which you can steam or…

    Continue Reading Podcast And Video: The PLDC And Property Rights In Hawaii – A Panel Discussion

    Here are the links to the materials and briefs from the Supreme Court’s three taking cases which we are discussing at today’s teleconference sponsored by the ABA’s Section on Litigation’s Environmental Litigation Commitee and the Condemnation, Zoning, and Land Use Committee. 

    Post-telecon note: thanks to everyone for joining us. I will be posting up the briefs in the Big Oak case now pending in the Court of Federal Claims that Rob Meltz mentioned in his “what’s next” talk about Arkansas Game. Update: here are the Big Oak briefs.Continue Reading Links And Materials From Today’s ABA Takings Teleconference

    Did we say free? (If you are an ABA member, that is.)

    Join us for a teleconference jointly sponsored by the ABA’s Section on Litigation’s Environmental Litigation Commitee and the Condemnation, Zoning, and Land Use Committee to discuss the latest and greatest in takings law, specifically the three cases the U.S. Supreme Court is ruling on this Term.

    Moderated by Dwight Merriam (Robinson & Cole, Hartford), panelists include me, Amy Bourlris (Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, Miami, Professor Steven Eagle (George Mason School of Law, Arlington), and Robert Meltz (Attorney-Adviser, American Law Division, Congressional Research Service, Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown Law, Washington)

    Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2013

    Time: Noon – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time

    Register here.

    More information here. See you there. Come with your questions or comments.
    Continue Reading Still Time To Join Us Tomorrow For ABA Takings Roundable (Free!)

    Having recently attended the 7th International Conference of the Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights in Portland, Oregon, we offer this irreverent view of that city’s culture, “Insufferable Portland,” by Mark Hemingway at the Weekly Standard. The landscape he portrays should be familiar to anyone who knows Portland, Berkeley, the Upper West Side, Santa Monica, Boulder, Chapel Hill, or Ann Arbor. Some highlights:

    Case in point: One of the most commented-on sketches from the show [Portlandia] is a scene from the first episode in which Armisen and Brownstein are sitting in a restaurant. After asking their waitress a series of absurd questions about whether the chicken they are about to eat is local​—​”the chicken is a heritage breed, woodland raised chicken that’s been fed a diet of sheep’s milk, soy, and hazelnuts. .  .  . His name was Colin, here are his papers”​—​the couple ends…

    Continue Reading Portland: Planning Utopia Or Hipster Paradise?