2020

A private pipeline company obtained a certificate of public convenience from FERC. Under the Natural Gas Act, FERC may issue such certificates conditioned on the applicant meeting the Clean Water Act’s requirement of obtaining state environmental check off on the project. The pipeline needed an easement across Schuecker’s land, and began the condemnation process under …

Here’s the recording of our webinar from earlier this week, in which we and fellow Honolulu lawyer Jeff Portnoy did our best to address some of the many questions that have arisen during the coronavirus shut-down.

Jeffrey Portnoy and Robert Thomas talked about what we can expect as the state and counties slowly lift…

Important developments in the two lawsuits that are on file challenging Hawaii Governor David Ige’s emergency proclamation and myriad supplemental proclamations.

First, we were all set to post the briefs and summarize the arguments for tomorrow’s scheduled U.S. District Court hearing on a motion for preliminary injunction in the first case when earlier today, the…

We’ve posted a lot of complaints lately (the lawsuit kind, not the “can I see the manager” kind), mostly coronavirus-related. All involving in one way or another a takings claim. See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and …

Yesterday, in the second of two cases that we’ve been following (both of which are in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, and are challenging the Hawaii Governor’s coronavirus-related shutdown orders for a variety of reasons, see For Our Rights v. Ige (assigned to Judge Watson) and Carmichael v. Ige (assigned to…

Note: please join us today, Tuesday, June, 23, 2020 (12 noon Hawaii Time) for a (free!) webinar. We’ll analyze the latest on “Lockdowns, testing and tracking: Are they all really legal?”

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There have been quite a few lawsuits filed nationwide challenging the various shut-down and “essential”/”nonessential” distinctions being made. So many…

A long opinion, but a short post. In Stanford Vina Ranch Irrigation Co. v. California, No. C085762 (June 18, 2020), the California Court of Appeal held that water rights are not really property rights.

That’s a bit of an overstatement, of course. But not a huge one.

In an inverse condemnation case, the court…

A new, must-add-to-your-reading-list article from takings and expropriations law scholar Professor Shai Stern.

In “Pandemic Takings: Compensating for Public Health Emergency Regulation,” Professor Stern dives into a question a lot of us have been pondering lately, namely whether the pandemic-related shutdown orders might trigger the Just Compensation imperative in the Fifth Amendment’s…

Please join us tomorrow, Tuesday, June, 23, 2020 (12 noon Hawaii Time) for a (free!) webinar. We’ll analyze the latest on “Lockdowns, testing and tracking: Are they all really legal?”

We’ll be joining constitutional lawyer Jeff Portnoy and Dr. Keli’i Akina for the program, sponsored by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Sign up …

The University of Hawaii Law Review has graciously agreed to publish an article we’ve been working on, “Hoist the Yellow Flag and Spam® Up: The Separation of Powers Limitation on Hawaii’s Emergency Authority,” 43 U. Haw. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2020) (download from SSRN at the link).

The article takes a deeper dive…