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A quick check of the Supreme Court’s docket in the Knick v. Township of Scott case shows that no less than 18 amici briefs have been filed top side. Not all of them in support of the Petitioner mind you (two, the briefs of the United States and of the American Planning Association, are in support of neither party, or ask the Court to impose a specific remedy), but whoa, that’s still a lot. 

Shows us how much a case about a very technical aspect of takings law can generate huge participation, reflecting how important the issue of whether a property owner can file a federal takings claim in federal court truly is. 

So you don’t have to read each one (although we encourage you to do so), here’s our quick summary of each: 

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Continue Reading Takings Ripeness Of Apparent Interest: Eighteen—18!—Amicus Briefs In Knick. Here’s Your Rundown.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005), whether a government action “substantially advances a legitimate state interest” — for a long time assumed to be a takings question under Agins — found a new home in the the Due Process Clause.  

Here’s the recently-filed cert petition, asking the Court to review a ruling by the Washington Court of Appeals

Questions Presented:

A Jefferson County, Washington, ordinance requires that all shoreline property owners dedicate, as a condition on any new development permit, a 150-foot conservation buffer purported to protect the marine environment from impacts like storm water runoff. The legislative record, however, contains findings that the government could not determine the need for, or the effectiveness of, a buffer without first considering site-specific factors and the specific development proposal.

The questions presented are:

1. Whether property rights are fundamental rights, such…

Continue Reading “New” vs “Old” Property – New Cert Petition Asks, Is Right To Use Property “Fundamental?”

Here’s what we’re reading today:

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Continue Reading Monday Readings: South Africa Takings, Redevelopment, Metes and Bounds, And More

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Some of the Land Use Institute faculty, including (front row left), Planning Chair Frank Schnidman and Planning Co-Chair Patty Salkin

Last Friday at the 32nd Annual Land Use Institute in Detroit, I was honored to moderate a freewheeling discussion by a panel of takings experts, Professor Steven Eagle, Minnesota lawyer Howard Roston, and Michigan’s own Alan Ackerman on “Takings, Eminent Domain, and Vested Rights.”

Here are the cases and other materials we discussed, as well as a few others which we did not have time to cover (but wish we could have):

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Continue Reading Cases And Materials From The Takings And Eminent Domain Session At The Land Use Institute

Do we really need to tell you how a rent control regulatory takings claim fared in the Ninth Circuit? We didn’t think so.

In Colony Cove Properties, LLC v. City of Carson, No. 16-562655 (Apr. 23, 2018), a three-judge panel reversed a district court jury verdict which concluded that the City was liable for a Penn Central regulatory taking for the mobilehome Rent Board’s setting of a rent increase artificially low. The total award to the park owner, including damages for lost rental income, attorneys’ fees, and interest, was over $9 million. 

As we wrote in this post, the city and its amici predictably went ballistic and argued that the upholding the verdict threatened the very existence of mobilehome rent control. The court concluded that as a matter of law, the owner failed each of the three Penn Central factors.

First, the owner did not prove that the…

Continue Reading 9th Cir: City Rent Board Determining Owner “Made Enough” Profit Isn’t A Penn Central Taking

Here are the cases and materials I either discussed, or planned to discuss (but ran out of time), in this morning’s session at the 32nd Annual Land Use Institute:

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Continue Reading Land Use Institute – Cases And Links From Today’s Session On Federal Laws And Local Land Use Decision Making: Water

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We’re in Detroit the rest of the week at the Mercy Law School for the venerable Land Use Institute, now in its 32nd iteration.

Planning Chair Frank Schnidman has assembled a great faculty including out Detroit colleague Alan Ackerman (above, talking about takings liability for flooding), and we’ll be spending the time talking inverse condemnation, public trust, planning law, homelessness, autonomous vehicles, affordable housing, RULIPA, and similar topics. We’ll be presenting on “Eminent Domain, Vested Rights, and Regulatory Takings,” “Client Representation: Developer, Government, and Citizens Groups,” and “Federal Laws Affecting Local Land Use Decision Making.” 

If you are here with us in Detroit, stop by and say hello. If you aren’t here, shame on you! This is one of the best and most affordable tuition deals in CLE.

But all kidding aside, if you are not in Detroit now, be sure to calendar these…

Continue Reading Land Use Institute – Detroit

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The William and Mary Law School has announced the recipient of the 2018 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize, Cardozo School of Law Professor Stewart E. Sterk.

He will receive the prize at the 15th Annual B-K Conference in Williamsburg, October 4-5, 2018. 

Sterk’s publications span a wide variety of areas, ranging from property and land use regulation to trusts and estates, copyright, and the conflict of laws. A member of the American Law Institute, he served as an advisor in the preparation of the Restatement (Third) of Property (Servitudes). He has co–authored casebooks on Trusts and Estates and on Land Use, and he also edits the New York Real Estate Law Reporter, a monthly newsletter published with the assistance of Cardozo students.

He joins an impressive list of legal scholars and practitioners as prizewinners, including Frank Michelman, Richard Epstein, James Ely, Carol Rose, Michael Berger, and David…

Continue Reading 2018 Brigham-Kanner Prize Announced: Professor Stewart E. Sterk, Cardozo Law

Space is filling up, but there’s still time to join us later this month in Detroit for the 32nd Annual Land Use Institute (April-19-20). 

We’ll let program Planning Chair Frank Schnidman explain all the reasons why, and we’ll add only these points: (1) it’s a very good program that won’t take much of your time (fly in for the Thursday afternoon program, stay a night, fly home on Friday evening); (2) Detroit is the place to be these days; and (3) it’s one of the best deals in CLE credits, with tuition as low as $400.

2018 Land Use Institute Brochure Detroit 5 2018

Continue Reading There’s Still Time To Join Us In Detroit: 32d Annual Land Use Institute