January 2009

In Zaid v. United States, No. 08-020C (Jan 22, 2009), the Court of Federal Claims held that an attorney who had a one-third contingent fee arrangement with his client did not have a claim for a taking when Congress placed a 10% fee limitation in two private bills.

Attorney Zaid represented two FBI informants

Boom How’s this for a raw deal: not only does the federal government seize both your land and your home, but it also takes your entire country with the intention of detonating multiple thermonuclear weapons where you once lived. Meaning you won’t be able to return to the homeland you loved for oh, let’s just say

According to this report from the San Francisco Chronicle, the California Supreme Court has denied review of Defend Bayview Hunters Point Committee v. City and County of San Francisco, 167 Cal. App. 4th, 84 Cal. Rptr. 3d 486 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008), the decision held:

The Defend Bayview Hunters Point Committee (DBHPC) gathered the required

Thanks to Charley Foster for pointing out this podcast of Susette Kelo’s recent appearance at the Cato Institute’s forum about the book Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict (available from Amazon here):

The mp3 of the podcast can also be downloaded directly here.

The Honolulu Advertiser reports “Lingle wants Ka Iwi coast free of development,” about the Governor’s efforts “paving the way for the final step in preserving the most accessiblewild coastline on O’ahu for generations to come.”

And just how is the Governor proposing to “preserve” this privately-owned and urban-zoned land from the “threat of

The property owner has filed its Reply in Support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in Charles A. Pratt Const. Co. v. California Coastal Comm’n, No. 08-668 (cert. petition filed Nov. 18, 2008) (SCOTUS docket report here). The petition seeks review of the California Court of Appeal’s opinion reported at 76 Cal. Rptr.

A delay in publication of a legal notice won’t knock out a challenge to the legality of a city’s blight designation.

In Community Youth Athletic Center v. City of National City, No. D052584 (Jan. 22, 2009), the California Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the trial court abused its discretion when it dismissed