March 2013

Cle-logoThose of you on the east coast (or, who wouldn’t mind a visit to a very beautiful part of Virginia), mark your calendars: on April 25 and 26, 2013, CLE International is presenting the 7th Annual Virginia Eminent Domain Conference – Local, State, and National Trends at the Tides Inn in Irvington, Virginia.

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Our colleague Mark M. Murakami has published the first in a series of posts on his blog about legal issues surrounding the multi-billion dollar Honolulu rail project, “Honolulu Rail and the Uniform Relocation Act.”

Because the HART rail project will involve federal funds, federal laws and regulations provide property owners (and their tenants)

Before the title of this post causes you to flee, please bear with us.

Oral arguments have just concluded in the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in a fascinating case involving the nature of “Torrens” title and, in a broader sense, the nature of property rights themselves. Disclosure: we filed an amicus brief in the

If this article — Christie tells beachfront owners to sign easement for dunes or face ridicule — accurately relays the entire context of the situation, then something is seriously off here.

The article quotes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as declaring that if shoreline property owners do not voluntarily surrender easements and allow the construction

If that headline calls out to you, congratuations: you are officially a takings nerd.

In Brandt v. United States, No. 12-5050 (Mar. 26, 2013), the Federal Circuit held that a takings claim originally submitted as a compulsory counterclaim to the federal government’s attempt to quiet title in a District Court action — which was

When a court of appeals opinion holding that the federal government has retained a reversionary interest in railroad rights-of-way contains the following language, that sound you hear is the cracking of smiles on appellate lawyers’ faces:

Though we recognize that the Seventh Circuit, the Federal Circuit and the Court of Federal Claims have concluded that

Here’s the Reply Brief in Ilagan v. Ungacta, No. 12-723 (cert. petition filed Dec. 7, 2012), the case in which the Court is considering whether to review the Guam Supreme Court’s opinion applying Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) to reverse a trial court decision invalidating a taking. 

The

Here’s the transcript from today’s Supreme Court oral arguments in Horne v. United States Dep’t of Agriculture, No. 12-123 (cert. granted Nov. 20, 2012).

Here’s a recap of the arguments from Lyle Dennison at SCOTUSblog: “If only it were simple…

Transcript, Horne v. USDA, No. 12-123 (Mar. 20, 2013)