October 2013

text

In this eminent-domain case, a jury determined that the City of Laredo’s condemnation was
not for an authorized public use and awarded attorney’s fees and expenses to the property owner
under Texas Property Code § 21.019(c).  This fee-shifting statute authorizes the trial court to “make
an allowance to the property owner for reasonable and

Civil pro wonks, get ready: we all know that under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, states are required to give the judgments of another state the same respect that those judgments would receive in the courts of the other state. That principle remains the same whether the judgment is issued by a state

Here’s the Response to Application for Writ of Certiorari by the State of Hawaii, which opposes the State’s cert app asking the Hawaii Supreme Court to review for grave error the Intermediate Court of Appeals’ opinion in In re Trustees Under the Will of the Estate of James Campbell, No. 30006 (June 13

Rent control cases rarely thrill us. They’s often long, the ordinances and rules being challenged are usuallylabyrinthian, and from our point of view, the results are mostly unsatisfying. 

The California Court of Appeal’s recent opinion in Colony Cove Properties, LLC v. City of Carson, No. B227092 (Oct. 21, 2013) doesn’t deviate from that pattern:

Remember the case from late last year in which the Honolulu Star-Advertiser brought a freedom of information/open records lawsuit against the Hawaii governor to force him to disclose the names of judicial nominees? Abandoning the practice of his two predecessors, the Governor refused to release the list of names of nominees transmitted to him by

Before we get to the California Supreme Court’s opinion in Sterling Park, L.P. v. City of Palo Alto, No. 204771 (Oct, 17, 2013), here’s what we think is the money quote:

For these reasons, we believe Fogarty and Williams correctly interpreted [Cal. Cov’t Code] section 66020. The statute governs conditions on development

DSCF1078

The last couple of days, we’ve returned to Williamsburg, Virginia to attend the annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference at the William and Mary Law School.

The Conference is the annual gathering of legal scholars and practitioners who focus on property law and property rights to celebrate the award the B-K Prize to “an individual whose

Remember that “audaciouscase filed in the Court of Federal Claims by überlawyer David Boies on behalf of Starr International seeking $35 billion in just compensation for the federal takeover of AIG?

Well, it’s moving along, and apparently is in discovery (every lawyer’s favorite part of the case). Boies sought the deposition testimony