The only issue in Caffe Ribs, Inc. v. Texas, No. 14-0193 (Apr. 1, 2016) was whether the jury could hear evidence proffered by the property owner that the delay in cleaning up the land to make it marketable could have been attributable to the government. The trial court said no, and the court of
Hadacheck Revisited: The More Things Stay The Same Dep’t…
Earlier this week, we posted our visit to the site of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 239 U.S. 394 (1915). It’s been over 100 years since that case was decided by the Court, but to Hinga Mbogo, the Dallas auto mechanic profiled in the above video from the Institute for
State’s Failure To Pay Interest On $169.56 Of Abandoned Property Isn’t A Taking
In most cases — as you can probably tell — we’re rooting for the property owner. But there are some cases where we’re okay with suspending our usual predilections. The case which resulted in the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s opinion in Dani v. Miller, No. 114482 (Mar. 29, 2016) is one of those.
It’s a long opinion
New Cert Petition: Circuit Split On “Class Of One” Equal Protection Claims – “Similar” Or “Identical?”
Here’s a new cert petition, seeking SCOTUS review of an unpublished opinion from the Eleventh Circuit. That court concluded that Dibbs’ equal protection challenge to the Hillsborough County’s Community Plan failed because he could not identify others who were similarly situated but treated differently.
Dibbs asserted. among other claims, that the County treated
Utah: City Can’t Condemn Property From A To Exchange With B, Even Where B’s Use Would Be Public
As part of a railroad realignment project, Salt Lake City needed B’s land. But B wouldn’t sell, and since B’s land was already committed to public use as a power substation, the city had doubts whether it could condemn it. So the city and B agreed that B would voluntarily give the city the land
Rhode Island: Right To Buy Back Excess Condemned Property Dies With (Former) Owner
Rhode Island has a provision in its constitution which allows condemning agencies to take more property than they might actually need “for actual construction” when building “public highways, streets, places, [and] parks or parkways.” See R.I. Const. art. VI, § 19. This provision also requires that in the event the condemnor doesn’t use
Takings Pilgrimage, LA Edition: Police Power, The Zoning Game, And Nuisances
A nondescript corner of what could be just about any urban city street in America. Nothing of overwhelming interest, just the usual commercial buildings, traffic signals, and small businesses. A self-storage facility. Pretty typical in a Commercial district. Here, the “C-4 District.”
Nothing at all, in fact, to indicate that just over a century ago, this was
Go Shopping, Hawaii, It’s The Secular Good Friday State Holiday!
Today is Good Friday, an official state holiday in Hawaii, so we’re reposting our annual recounting of how it came to be that the State commemorates the date of the crucifixion, and how that squares with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Turns out that we don’t really commemorate today as the crucifixion date
Mississippi: Statute That Says No Private Takings For Access Within City Limits Means Just That
Mississippi, like many states, by statute allows private parties to condemn a neighbor’s land for use as a private access road, if doing so is “necessary” for a landlocked parcel to gain ingress and egress. This power is subject to limitations: for example, the parcel must be truly landlocked with no other access. Mississippi apparently has