2017

The Georgia Supreme Court’s analysis in Diversified Holdings, LLP v. City of Suwanee, No. S17A1140 (Nov. 2, 2017) reminded us of that old trope from logic, “no true Scotsman.” 

According to a completely reliable source (Wikipedia):

No true Scotsman is a kind of informal fallacy in which one attempts to protect a

Border walls, pipelines, and state takings law. All topics we dig. So for today’s reading, we recommend “When the Government Grabs — the Border Wall, Pipelines and New Challenges to Eminent Domain,” an interview with U. Va. lawprof Molly Brady on these topics. Check it out. 

PS – Professor Brady will be speaking on another

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Tomorrow, Saturday, November 11, 2017, is the 100th anniversary of the death of Hawaii’s last monarch, Liliuokalani. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has a story about the commemoration events

But here’s a historical tidbit about her which our readers might find interesting: did you know that after she was deposed, and after Hawaii became a

We all know that if you are challenging a federal government action as either beyond the agency’s authority (or is unconstitutional), and as a taking, you’ve got to split your claim between a U.S. district court, and the Court of Federal Claims. The district court considers challenges to the validity of the government action, while

We’re looking forward to a good crowd at the upcoming ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, when we shall converge on Charleston, SC, January 25-27, 2018. We’ve received word that our main conference hotel, the Francis Marion, has sold out.

But if you haven’t reserved your space yet, don’t despair. The

Here’s the cert petition which has just been filed in a case we’ve been following since it was instituted in the District Court, Brott v. United States.

The case presents the deceptively simple question of whether property owners who sue the federal government for a taking are entitled to both an Article III

Check this out: according to this article (“This SC man won a Supreme Court case. He wants to know why he can’t talk about it“), David Lucas, the lawyer-property owner behind the big reg takings case Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 (1993), was apparently not invited to speak

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No soup for you!

Update: our colleague Bryan Wenter has his take on one of the cases denied review here (“U.S. Supreme Court Again Declines to Consider Important Property Rights Issue Regarding the Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine“) (“Because the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court leans ideologically conservative by any traditional measure and

We’ve been receiving a lot of visits lately from folks looking for information on inverse condemnation liability after the recent Northern California wildfires, and the flooding in Houston. In addition to the news stories (see SF Chronicle wildfire story here, and the Texas Tribune flood story here) which we’ve already posted, here are