November 2012

Gideon Kanner recently asked “Whatever Happened to Condemnation of Underwater Mortgages?”

Watch this November 23, 2012 interview with the chairman of Mortgage Resolution Partners for the views from the outfit that proposed the idea of using eminent domain to take underwater mortgages. He says the idea is “not dead at all … but…

Guess what? The Water Commission got it wrong again. The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals held in this unpublished memorandum order that the Commission must hold a “contested case” hearing upon demand when the Commission sets “interim instream flow standards” under the Water Code (in other words, how much water should be allocated to whom …

Here are the relevant pleadings in the pending cross-motions for summary judgment in Kostick v. Nago, Cv. No. 12-00184 JMS-LEK-MMM, the case challenging Hawaii’s 2012 Reapportionment Plan for violatating the Equal Protection Clause (among other things). We represent the plaintiffs in that case.

That case resulted from the State of Hawaii classifying its its…

Here they are, more amicus curiae briefs in n Koontz v. St Johns River Water Mgmt Dist., No. 11-1447 (cert. granted Oct. 5, 2012).

That’s the case asking whether the “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” standards of Nollan and Dolan are applicable only to exactions for land, or whether they are generally-applicable tests. We…

In California, a property owner whose business suffers when the land is taken is entitled to goodwill under the state’s eminent domain code, and has the right to have a jury determine the amount of goodwill. But who makes the call when there’s a dispute about whether there’s any goodwill at all?

According to the…

Today, on behalf of our colleagues at Owners’ Counsel of America, we filed this amicus brief in Koontz v. St Johns River Water Mgmt Dist., No. 11-1447 (cert. granted Oct. 5, 2012). That’s the case asking whether the “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” standards of Nollan and Dolan are applicable only to exactions…

Water is aprecious resource said to be held in the “public trust.”  The Hawaii Constitution provides that “theState has an obligation to protect, control and regulate the use of Hawaii’swater resources for the benefit of its people.”   To this end, the State evaluates andregulates the use of these resources through its Commission of Water ResourceManagement. …

Here’s a short one from the Ohio Supreme Court. In City of Girard v. Youngstown Belt Railway Co., No. 2012 Ohio 5370 (Nov. 21, 2012), the court held:

In this case, we are called upon to determine the extent to which the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (“ICCTA”), 49 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.…

Our colleague Mark M. Murakami was able to attend a lecture on regulatory takings at the University of Hawaii law school last week. Mark usually blogs at hawaiioceanlaw, but we convinced him to write up a guest post on his observations about the presentation.

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Last week, I attended the 2012 Distinguished GiffordLectureship…