January 2013

How, as an appellant, do you know you are in trouble? When an opinion starts like this, that’s how:

Although a residential subdivision proposed for construction in a bucolic Rhode Island town never saw the light of day, its ghost continues to haunt the parties. But apparitions rarely have substance, and this one is no

You know how we’re always saying that certain parties have an enviable record of success in the Hawaii Supreme Court? Well, now the statistics are official.

The latest edition of the University of Hawaii Law Review published an article by lawprof David Callies summarzing the decisions of the court during the tenure of now-retired Chief

Here’s petitioner’s reply brief in Koontz v. St Johns River Water Mgmt Dist., No. 11-1447 (cert. granted Oct. 5, 2012), which responds to the Water Management District’s merits brief.

In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether the “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” standards of Nollan and Dolan are applicable only

Update: More here (Ilya Somin at Volokh), and here (Ilya Shapiro at CATO).

A coalition of property rights advocates including the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, the CATO Instiutute, the Owners’ Counsel of America, and lawprofs James Ely, David Callies, Todd Zywicki, Randy Barnett, Eric Claeys

Join us on Friday, January 11, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (12:30 CT, 11:30 a.m. MT, 10:30 a.m. PT, 7:30 a.m. HT) for “Thinking Out Loud – Property Rights After Natural Disasters,” a free teleconference presented by the Condemnation Zoning and Land Use Committee of the ABA’s Litigation Section. There’s no cost to

Here are the briefs in Sierra Club v. Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii, Inc., No. SCWC-11-0000625 (cert. accepted Jan. 4, 2013). That’s the case text we’ve been following involving the Koa Ridge Makai residential housing project on Oahu. The Intermediate Court of Appeals held the Hawaii Senate’s failure to confirm a sitting Land Use