A short one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which asks: when the government is holding your abandoned property for you, do you have to ask for it to return it to you before you can bring a takings claim?
In Dillow v. Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, No.
An interesting dirt law decision from north of the border in a case we’ve been following.
In Kosicki v. City of Toronto, No. 40908 (Sep. 19, 2025), the Supreme Court of Canada held that the usual common law rule of “no adverse possession against the government” didn’t govern, and permitted a private owner
As part of the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference being held next week at the William and Mary Law School, the student-run Real Estate Law Society is producing a very interesting program that offers a look back on Kelo v. City of New London, in this that case’s twentieth year.
We’re going to
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is the latest court to wade in (or more accurately, re-wade in) to what we call the SWAT Takings issue.
The logic is sound: under a governmental power (police power), the government (SWAT) has physically invaded (deprived the owner of an essential stick of private property, the right to exclude) a home (private property), for public use (police apprehending suspects is a good thing), triggering the obligation to spread the burden of this public good to the entire public (Armstrong).
Continue Reading CA7: No Taking For SWAT Destroying Property While Executing Valid Warrant
In Witherspoon v. Ince, No. 24-6194 (Oct. 9, 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a property owner who alleged that Oklahoma’s system of private takings — where the state authorizes private parties to use eminent domain to take what looks like an easement by necessity over a neighbor’s
The latest cert petition from Michael Berger, this time involving procedural due process and takings.
Here are the Questions Presented:
The City of Dana Point “red tagged” Petitioner’s motel and then had a receiver appointed to oversee its rehabilitation without ever providing notice of the hearing. Thereafter, it set the property for a
A short one (unpublished) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in a Tyler taking case (an issue that seems like it is on a lot of courts’ minds right now).
In Wayside Church v. Van Buren County, No. 24-1598 (Oct. 6, 2025), the court affirmed the district court’s certification of
In a case we’ve been following for what seems like forever, the Hawaii Supreme Court has issued an opinion in Maunalua Bay Beach Ohana 28 v. State of Hawaii, No. SCWC-19-0000776 (Sep. 17, 2025), holding that littoral property owners are owed nothing for the temporary regulatory taking of small portions of accreted beach.
Continue Reading Hawaii Supreme Court: Beachfront Property Is Worthless
This just in: in this Order, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari and agreed to review two cases which involve property and property rights.
First, in Pung v. Isabella County, No. 25-95, the Court will be considering these Questions Presented:
1. Whether taking and selling a home to satisfy a debt to
Here’s a cert petition in a case we’ve been following.
This is a water fight in California, and it asks a fundamental question: is the right to beneficial use of water a property right? The Federal Circuit held no, the federal government possesses that right, not these owners.
Continue Reading New Cert Petition: Are Water Rights “Property?”