I’ve just received my copy of the 2010 revision of Federal Land Use Law & Litigation by Brian W. Blaesser and Alan C. Weinstein (West, $225).
Here’s the description of the book from West’s site:
Examines all federal, constitutional, and statutory limitations on local land use controls, discussing cases, regulations, liability, defense strategies, doctrines, and antitrust restrictions. Comprehensively reviews Supreme Court and lower federal court decisions that consider the constitutionality of land use regulations. Discusses complicated free speech issues affected by federal land use law, and municipalities exercising home rule powers. Examines issues such as: constitutional and statutory limits, First Amendment limitations on land use controls, federal remedies and attorney’s fees, liability and immunity issues, litigation guidelines, zoning, subdivision controls, growth management, model complaints, and selected constitutional and statutory decisions.
Federal Land Use Law & Litigation is an eminently useful single-volume research and reference guide. It’s well-organized, and although it is a specialty book and it is helpful to have a base understanding of the topics, it covers the most frequently-occurring issues in land use litigation in an understandable and easy-to-follow fashion. Chapter 3 on Regulatory Takings contains a particularly good summary of the current state of doctrine, and a concise chronological overview of the critical cases, beginning with the foundation cases in the early 20th century (Hadacheck, Mahon, Euclid) and continuing to the present.
This is one that will continue to have a place on my back bookshelf, along with other such must-haves as Steven Eagle’s Regulatory Takings, the latest “green book” (Patricia Salkin’s yearly Zoning and Planning Law Handbook), and Norman Matteoni’s Condemnation Practice in California.
Federal Land Use Law & Litigation is available for purchase via West here.