December 2020

Property book cover image

Each spring, we do a smaller course at the William and Mary Law School (known as a “Directed Reading”) that focuses on some interesting property issue. The class reads a book and uses it as a springboard for discussion.

No exam, no paper, just an exploration of the issues as a way about thinking about

Go on, read the facts in the California Court of Appeal’s (unpublished) opinion in San Joaquin Regional Transit District v. Superior Court, No. C084755 (Dec. 1, 2020). It’s worth your time, believe us.

After chasing from California a long-standing manufacturing and service business (to Illinois) by instituting condemnation proceedings on the property on which

Here’s the Reply in Support of what we think is a very worthy cert petition, and which responds to the recently-filed BIO.

For the background of the case, check out this post (“What Constitutes a Loss“). The property owner has also summarized the situation thusly in its petition:

The State of

A short (unpublished) one from the Federal Circuit, Albright v. United States, No. 19-2078 (Dec. 1, 2020).

This rails-to-trails takings case turned on the predicate question: do the plaintiffs own private property? That question turned on the lex loci, and whether, under Oregon law, the original right-of-way conveyance meant to grant to the