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You overwhelmingly asked for Nashville, and we’re bringing it to you!

Get ready, and hold your place now: here’s the list of programs and speakers for the 36th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, to be held at the Downtown Nashville Hilton, January 23,- 25, 2020. Two-and-a-half days with top-notch national faculty (lawyers from both sides, judges, legal scholars, appraisers, relocation experts, and others).  

Early registration and group rates are available now. 

Here are just some of the programs:

  • Featured Presentation: Property Rights as Civil Rights: Seeking Justice Though the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Hon. Jonathan Apgar, Jamila Johnson, Alan Ackerman. Moderator: Leslie Fields.
  • Making Sense of the New Rules After Knick v. Township of Scott: Where Do I Go, What Do I Do? David Breemer, Smitha Chintamaneni, Professor Bethany Berger. Moderator: Professor Steven Eagle.
  • When A River Runs Thought It: Water Rights and

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Continue Reading Here’s The Agenda And Faculty For The 2020 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Nashville, Jan 23-25, 2020

Untitled Extract Pages

We’re posting the Indiana Court of Appeals’ recent opinion in Hoagland Family Ltd. P’ship v. Town of Clear Lake, No. 18A-PL-2088 (Aug. 28, 2019) not because it says much about eminent domain law, but more because (1) we commented on the case last time it was before the court, and (2) it’s kind of funny. 

From what we can read between the lines, the case probably involved one of those dudes who makes local municipal officials roll their eyes when he shows up. The genesis of the long-running litigation is that the Town wants Mr. Hoagland to connect his house to the municipal sewer system, and stop using his own septic system.

We’ll let you read the relatively short opinion for the details, but why we’re posting it is the court’s use of more than a few evocative words which tell you what the judges really thought of…

Continue Reading Indiana Ct of Appeals: Come On Parties, Please Resolve This Steaming Pile Of A Case

ALI Nashville 2020

The final agenda and faculty list will soon be officially published, but we wanted to give you a preview of what is in store at the ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, January 23-25, 2020, at the Nashville Hilton (downtown, just a few steps away from everything that Nashville has to offer). 

Don’t miss out: in recent years, we’ve been at-or-near capacity, and the conference hotel has even sold out a couple of times. Visit the ALI-CLE website to register and hold your space. 

Here are some of the things we’ll be discussing: 

  • Making Sense of the New Rules After Knick v. Township of Scott: Where Do I Go, What Do I Do?
  • The Missing Link in Valuing Fixtures
  • When a River Runs Through it: Water Rights and Takings
  • Responding to Project Changes: Valuation When Government Action is Ongoing
  • Property Rights as Civil Rights: Seeking Justice Through

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Continue Reading Get Ready: The 2020 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference Agenda Coming Soon

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We’re about to get underway with the fall semester at William and Mary Law School, where we’re again teaching an upper-division course, Eminent Domain and Property Rights. 

We’ve more than doubled the size of last year’s enrollment, so it looks like the word is getting out. We cover not only eminent domain and just compensation, but takings (yes, we have a lot of new materials to cover there), civil forfeiture, a small bit of crossover with land use, local government, and related, property rights as civil rights, how property law is discussed in the public sphere, due process, and how to lawyer up these cases. And in early October, the opportunity to have some of the nation’s best property law scholars “guest lecture” during the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. Here’s the official description:

Property rights and the sovereign’s power of eminent domain have been essential components of…

Continue Reading Law 608: Eminent Domain And Property Rights – Season 2

Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 22, 2019, 2 – 3pm ET, for a free ABA program, “When the Floods and Fires Come: Landowner’s Property Damage Claims.” This session, produced by the Section of Litigation and organized by our Damon Key colleague Mark Murakami. Featured speakers are our colleagues Anthony Della Pelle (NJ), Kristen Renfro (CA), and Pepperdine lawprof Shelley Saxer (CA).

Here’s the description:

In the wake of the Superstorm Sandy, the 2017 hurricanes, and the California wildfires, landowners damaged by the disasters are faced with a confusing array of potential recovery options. This program is designed to assist small and general practice attorneys whose clients are harmed by these disasters. Anthony Della Pelle, Esq. of New Jersey and Kristen Renfro, Esq. of California will discuss the practitioner’s views and Professor Shelley Saxer of Pepperdine Law School will discuss the legal theories relating to governmental…

Continue Reading Upcoming Free Program: “When the Floods and Fires Come: Landowner’s Property Damage Claims”

Merriamscorner

Land users and dirt lawyers know Dwight Merriam. (And if you don’t, you are not really a land user, are you?)

He’s won landmark cases (has even beaten Yours Truly in one of those cases way back in the day). Written tons of articles and books. Edits Rathkopf. Contributes to Nichols. Mentored multiple generations of land use lawyers (me included). All while serving his country in the U.S. Navy. 

Here’s your chance to tap directly into the source. Dwight has (finally) started a blog, Merriam’s Corner, about the topics we all love. 

So sign up and follow. Listen in as Dwight thinks out loud for our benefit.

Welcome to the blog world, Mr. Merriam.  Continue Reading New Land Use Law Blog To Follow: Merriam’s Corner (“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Land Use”)

Synchronicity (Jung, not The Police). Serendipity. Lattice of coincidence. Whatever you call it, sometimes things seem to come in waves. 

So it seems with the statue of limitations for inverse and regulatory takings claims this week. We had not dealt with the issue for a while. Radio silence. Then boom! The issue crops up repeatedly and we can’t seem to avoid it. First, in a brief we’re drafting in a pending case in the Hawaii Supreme Court. Then in a Federal Circuit opinion yesterday. And also yesterday in an opinion from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Harford County v. Maryland Reclamation Associates, Inc., No. 12-C-13-000509 (Aug. 1, 2019). 

MRA bought land way back in 1990 (statute of limitations cases often have a long history, no?) to operate a rubble landfill. But after the purchase, the County changed its regs to prohibit…

Continue Reading Lattice Of Coincidence: Regulatory Takings Claim Accrues When Regulator Makes Final Decision (Williamson County Lives!), Not When Appeals Are Exhausted

Here’s one we’re posting without comment, because the Complaint was filed today by my Damon Key colleagues. But here’s a summary of the issues, from the press release:

On August 1, 2019, the Hawaii Vacation Rental Owners Association and Honolulu land use attorney Greg Kugle of the Damon Key law firm, filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the City and County over Bill 89. Bill 89 takes effect on August 1, 2019 as Ordinance 19-18. Although the stated purpose of the law is to regulate illegal short-term rentals, it is being interpreted by the Department of Planning and Permitting in a way that will unfairly target the owners of legal residential rentals of 30 days or more, and will have a devastating impact on Oahu’s economy.

Greg Kugle said “Ordinance 19-18 is unconstitutional because it violates the Search and Seizure, Due Process, Property, Privacy and Free Speech guarantees of…

Continue Reading Honolulu’s New Short-Term Rental Ordinance Challenged In Federal Court

Recently, we requested crowdsourcing of this year’s “come to the ALI-CLE Eminent Domain Conference video.” Instead of doing the video ourselves, we asked folks to “please send a short clip of you and/or your colleagues telling us why you think the Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference is the place to be in January. Humor welcome, but not required.”

Our friend and colleague, St. Louis’ Paul Henry, has answered the call, admirably. Paul, as you may remember, is famous for his presentation a couple of years ago at the Conference about “Everything About Eminent Domain I Need To Know I Learned From Star Trek.” Which he gave in a Starfleet captain’s uniform. Brave man. Readers know that we dig Star Trek. But we are not that brave, so bravo, Paul.  

See if you don’t agree that Paul has now raised the video bar. …

Continue Reading Capt Henry Orders You To Boldly Go To The 2020 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Nashville, Jan. 23-25, 2020