Here’s what caught our attention today:
- Opinion: Caution is necessary when Utah transit projects engage in the practice of eminent domain – an opinion piece from the Deseret News which mentions that recent Utah Supreme Court case about whether it is a public use to take an entire parcel simply to avoid the humbug of severance damages.
- End may be near for Point Reyes oyster farm – what may be the final chapter in the saga of Drake’s Bay Oyster Company, a place which we visited last year to see for ourselves. After the Supreme Court denied cert last week, it looks like the case may be winding down … or not (“If they can find new claims to make, they may be able to file new appeals – and possibly win a new reprieve for the operation, said Lawrence Bazel, attorney for the company. ‘It’s not over until it’s over,’ Bazel said. ‘The litigation is still pending.'”).
- Federal officials say US Army Corps shouldn’t be blamed for major flooding on Missouri River – the latest on that case where the property owners got flooded out, apprently in order to save someone else’s property (“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shouldn’t be blamed for causing major flooding along the Missouri River that has affected five states regularly since 2006, the federal government says in its initial response to a lawsuit. More than 200 landowners claimed in their March lawsuit that they should be compensated for the extensive damage they experienced — particularly during the extended 2011 flooding that devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of mostly farmland in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.”).
- Richmond misses its chance to turn the page on mortgage taking plan – an opinion piece from the local paper for Richmond, California (the Contra Costa Times), reacting to the Richmond City Council’s decision to keep on going with the plan to sieze underwater mortgages by eminent domain (a plan that has apparently spread) (“The Richmond City Council came within a single vote last week of making a wise decision, which ranks as man-bites-dog news for one of the most dysfunctional governing bodies in Contra Costa County.”)
- Read that piece along with this one (“Eminent domain often leave broken communities behind“) to get an idea of why it’s such a bad idea.
- For more, read this piece from Dwight Merriam (“Look, bottom line, Lindsay Lohan has a greater chance of staying out of trouble than the city of Richmond. On top of the legal issues, all the heavy-duty lawyering adds great transaction costs, and the California housing market is on fire, up 28% year-over-year. And listing prices are up 40% year-over-year in Richmond. “Distressed properties” in Richmond — those that are bank-owned, REO, in foreclosure or short sales — are down to 11% versus 23% a year ago.”).
- Finally, this: “Hawaii Mandates Transparency for Appraisers Acting as Arbitrators” (“The bill requires licensed or certified real estate appraisers who are named or appointed in a submission agreement to appraise or arbitrate entered into after July 1 to record with the Bureau of Conveyances all arbitration awards; records of awards, if separately issued; and any supplementary, dissenting or explanatory opinions on awards within 90 days of the notification of the determination of the award to the parties. The law further specifies that no agreement between the parties or the appraisers acting as arbitrators may preclude or deny the requirement to record an award, the record of the award or any supplementary, dissenting or explanatory opinions. The law also clarifies that failure to comply with these provisions is a violation of real estate appraiser license or certification requirements.”).