You should already know Short Circuit is the Institute for Justice’s frequently-updated podcast on important and interesting decisions from the federal courts of appeals (the “Circuit” part of the title, we assume).
If you are not already a regular listener you are missing out, because it is a fantastic and easy way to keep up
If you are looking for us tomorrow but we don’t respond, that’s because we’ll be in the audience in rapt attention at “Property Rights and the Roberts Court, 2005-2025” at the U.C. Berkeley Law School (fka “Boalt Hall”).
Here’s the description:
For much of the past century, property rights were relegated to second-class
In our earlier post today, we noted that on the same day last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued two published opinions about the admissibility of evidence in federal eminent domain cases under the Natural Gas Act.
In our post about the other case, we focused on
As the title should inform you, Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC v. 0.32 Acres of Land, No. 23-1935 (Jan. 27, 2025) is a federal taking. Here, a taking where a private pipeline condemnor is exercising the delegated federal power of eminent domain under the Natural Gas Act.
The issue we’re focusing on in this
Students of the Supreme Court’s infamous-the-day-it-was-decided decision in Kelo v. City of New London know that the legal issue presented and decided by the Court was somewhat narrow, but that the decision had a broad cultural impact such that Susette Kelo’s SCOTUS 5-4 loss was merely a precursor to widespread political
A short one from the California Court of Appeal, Shehyn v. County of Ventura Public Works Agency, No. B337452 (Feb. 20, 2025).
Bottom line: the court reversed the trial court’s demurrer, which had dismissed a flood inverse claim. Good news, the owner gets to press its claim.
The plaintiff here is the owner of
What does a property owner do if she believes that the government’s eminent domain lawsuit is abusive? Is the remedy limited to the four corners of the eminent action (i.e., a counterclaim, third-party claim, etc.), or may a landowner institute a separate action which includes a tort claim for abuse of process?
In Indiana Land
Registration is open and underway for this year’s edition of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute in Denver, March 5-7, 2025. Location: University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
This conference is more what we’ll call “land usey” than ALI-CLE’s Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (as the respective titles suggest), but there’s a
Readers know that the North Carolina Constitution does not contain a “takings” or “just compensation” clause. Does that mean that the government can simply take property, and not have to worry whether the taking is for a public use, and with just compensation? Of course not.
Because we also know that the N.C. Constitution
Check this out, a recent Fourth Branch pod featuring lawprof Donald Kochan and our law firm colleague Jeremy Talcott, “Explainer Episode 85 – Rebuilding California: Lessons from the Pacific Palisades Fire.”
Here’s the description:
The 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire has underscored the challenges of building in California’s complex regulatory landscape. In response
