Real Estate & Property Law

NY Supreme Court (Appellate Division): Eminent Domain Can't Be Used To Get Out Of A Contract

Posted on March 23, 2010
"Bust a deal and face the wheel." - Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome You make a deal, you live with it. Or use legal means to try and avoid your obligations. But in New York, if you...

Live Blog Of New Jersey Supreme Court Oral Argument In Klumpp v. Borough of Avalon (The "Bizarre Condemnation")

Posted on March 22, 2010
Technology permitting, we are live blogging today's oral arguments in in Klumpp v. Borough of Avalon, No. A-49-09 (certification granted Nov. 10, 2009). That's the case in which the New Jersey Supreme Court is reviewing the decision from the Appellate...

Behind The Music: Stop The Beach Renourishment And Judicial Takings

Posted on March 22, 2010
Courtesy of the New York Times is the backstory of Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection, No. 08-11 (cert. granted. June 15, 2009). This, of course, is the "judicial takings" case that was argued in...

California Court Of Appeal: Takings Claims Brought Too Early, Too Late, And No Damages For Violations Of The Right To Petition (Inter Alia)

Posted on March 18, 2010
The latest skirmish in California's mobile home rent control wars, this time from the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, in two cases out of San Diego county, MHC Financing Ltd. P'ship v. City of Santee, No. D053345 (Mar. 15,...

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BIO And Amicus Briefs In Erosion Case: Is A Littoral Owner Trespassing When The Shoreline Erodes?

Posted on March 15, 2010
In January, we posted the cert petition in Sharp v. United States, No. 09-820 (cert. petition filed Jan. 7, 2010) (Supreme Court docket entry here). In that case, the property owners are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the...

Ninth Circuit To Hear Rent Control Takings Case En Banc

Posted on March 12, 2010
This just in: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will be hearing Guggenheim v. City of Goleta, No. 06-56306 (Sep. 28, 2009) en banc. The panel opinion in Guggenheim held that the city's mobile home rent control...

Friday Eminent Domain Round-Up

Posted on March 05, 2010
Here's what we are reading this Friday: Eminent Domain as Central Planning - a report on New York's approach to central economic planning, and how "blight" determinations and eminent domain are key means to the ends. The Blog of LegalTimes...

Multimedia Round-Up

Posted on March 04, 2010
What we're looking at and listening to today. Some video, some podcasts. First up is the video above from Reason.tv, Billionaires v. Brooklyn's Best Bar: Eminent Domain Abuse & The Atlantic Yards Project A clip about the owner of what...

Law Blogging, Deconstructed

Posted on March 03, 2010
If you want a peek behind the curtain at this humble little blog, law firm marketing expert Jayne Navarre has kindly featured it in her case study "Build a Blog - Build a Law Practice: One Lawyer's Journey." It tells...

Diner My Shiny, Shiny Love

Posted on March 03, 2010
Who among us hasn't, at one point or another, found some comfort in that icon of mid-century americana, the greasy spoon diner? In the words of Martin Sexton: Like a locomotive they were streamlined And the blue prints were drawn...

DC Circuit Peels The Onion On Eminent Domain Abuse Case

Posted on March 02, 2010
In the latest chapter is the Skyland Shopping Center saga, Rumber v. District of Columbia, No. 09-7035 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 26, 2010) (per curiam), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit got rid of most of the 17...

Oral Arguments Scheduled In New Jersey's "Bizarre Condemnation"

Posted on February 25, 2010
The New Jersey Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in Klumpp v. Borough of Avalon, No. A-49-09 (certification granted Nov. 10, 2009), to review the decision from New Jersey's Appellate Division which held that the government can assert inverse condemnation...

Competing Views Of James Cameron's "Avatar" (And Eminent Domain)

Posted on February 22, 2010
An interesting difference of opinion about the message in the current blockbuster Avatar. Eminent domain mavens Gideon Kanner and Rick Rayl initially agree that it's not about eminent domain, but diverge on their philosophical approaches to the issue...

11th Circuit: County Reasonably Concluded Something Might Be Going On In The Champagne Room

Posted on February 17, 2010
Contradicting Chris Rock's dictum (caution, may be very offensive), Fulton County, Georgia concluded there might be something untoward going on in the Champagne Room, at least in those serving alcohol. In Flanigan's Enterprises, Inc. of Ga. v. Fulton County, No...

Final Briefs In Hawaii Eminent Domain Abuse Cases: Pretext, Actual Purposes, And Private Benefit

Posted on February 16, 2010
Today, we filed the final briefs in the latest phase of County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P'ship, two condemnation appeals presently before the Hawaii Supreme Court arising out of the County's attempts to take a Kona family's...

More On The Thirtieth Anniversary Of Kaiser Aetna

Posted on February 15, 2010
Barista's note: we posted a version of this story before, on the 30th anniversary of the date the Court issued the opinion (December 4, 2009), but thought we would reprint a more detailed view, recently published in our firm's newsletter,...

Eminent Domain Round-Up

Posted on February 12, 2010
Here are some of the items we are reading: They're Moving Father's Grave to Build a ... Runway (with a hat tip to the Clancy Brothers and Professor Kanner) - Chicago wins cemetery land for new O'Hare runway Who's On...

Cal Supremes Opine On Statutes Of Limitation In CEQA Challenges

Posted on February 11, 2010
I'm on the road today, so don't have the time to read this opinion in detail, but here's another one for all you CEQA mavens. In Committee for Green Foothills v. Santa Clara County Bd. of Supervisors, No. S163680 (Feb....

Submitting Items For Posting To inversecondemnation.com

Posted on February 10, 2010
We average between three and five posts per week, often putting up decisions and briefs before they show up on Westlaw or Lexis. But we can't keep up with everything -- my firm and clients would probably like me to...

Connecticut Supreme Court: An Option To Purchase Is Not "Property," So Optionee Can Be Abused

Posted on February 10, 2010
The Connecticut Supreme Court has issued opinions in a trio of closely-watched eminent domain cases. The first two opinions deal with technicalities of eminent domain law, but the third overturns a $12 million jury verdict that the Town of Branford,....

HAWSCT: County Council Member Subject To Declaratory Judgment Claim He Is Not A Resident Of His District

Posted on February 10, 2010
This just in: in a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Acoba, the Hawaii Supreme Court held that a Maui council member immediately forfeits office should the council member violate the continuous residency requirements of Maui Charter § 3-3. DeJetley v...

Latest Briefs In New Jersey's "Bizarre Condemnation"

Posted on February 09, 2010
Remember Klumpp v. Borough of Avalon, No. A-2963-07 (per curiam), the decision from New Jersey's Appellate Division which held that the government can assert inverse condemnation in order to take property without compensation? As noted in this order dated November...

ALI-ABA Annual Eminent Domain Conference Wrap-Up

Posted on February 07, 2010
We just wrapped up the annual three-day Festival of Eminent Domain Law, otherwise known as the American Law Institute | American Bar Association's two CLE conferences, "Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation," and "Condemnation 101: How To Prepare and Present...

Getting The "Goodies" And Honolulu's $100 Million Golf Course Exaction

Posted on February 05, 2010
On Wednesday, Honolulu lost its iconic former Mayor, Frank Fasi. Mayor Fasi will be remembered for a lot of things, but we here at inversecondemnation.com will fondly recall his cheek when it came to exactions and in lieu payments. Two...

Off To The ALI-ABA Eminent Domain Conferences

Posted on February 01, 2010
There is still time to register for the two ALI-ABA eminent domain conferences, "Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation," and "Condemnation 101: How To Prepare and Present an Eminent Domain Case," being held concurrently at the Westin Kierland Resort in...

Before Choosing Paper Or Plastic, You Need Environmental Review

Posted on January 28, 2010
Environmental review, as one California municipality discovered, is a double-edged sword, even if the action the city undertakes is supposedly to protect the environment. The opinion of the California Court of Appeal (Second District) in Save the Plastic Bag Coalition...

Nebraska Court Of Appeals: Taking Did Not Violate Post-Kelo Ban On Economic Development Condemnations

Posted on January 28, 2010
In City of Omaha v. Tract No. 1, No. A-09-323 (Jan. 26, 2010), the Nebraska Court of Appeals held that a post-Kelo "no takings for economic development" statute did not prohibit the city from taking property for a decleration lane...

New Book: At the Cutting Edge 2009: Land Use Law from The Urban Lawyer

Posted on January 27, 2010
One of the benefits of doing your own blog is that every now and then you are allowed to engage in a little shameless self-promotion (what's this "every now and then?"). Well, here goes. The ABA has announced the forthcoming...

Post-Argument Podcast On Florida Judicial Takings Case

Posted on January 25, 2010
The Federalist Society has posted a podcast of my Pacific Legal Foundation colleague Jim Burling discussing Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection, No. 08-11 (cert. granted. June 15, 2009): If that doesn't work for you,...

Eagle On Regulatory Takings (4th ed. 2009)

Posted on January 24, 2010
I just received my copy of the latest edition of Professor Steven J. Eagle's definitive treatise Regulatory Takings (Lexis/Nexis, 4th ed. Dec. 2009). Like the earlier editions, this is a must-have for every land use and property law attorney's back...

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