Photo of Robert H. Thomas

Robert H. Thomas

Here’s one you don’t want to miss. Lawprof Shelley Ross Saxer has published “Forfeiture Takings, Police Power, and Necessity Destruction,” 80 U. Miami L. Rev. 147 (2025).

Here’s the Abstract:

Civil forfeiture laws allow law enforcement to seize property when there is probable cause it has been used or possessed in violation of

We all know that the annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference is 2.5+ days of the best national CLE programming on the stated subject. Get a cycle’s worth of CLE credits, including Ethics, taught by experienced practitioners and legal scholars, across three separate tracks (from which you can choose a la carte

In Gould v. Interface, Inc., No. 23-12883 (Oct. 2, 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was dealing with a claim for wrongful termination of a tech CEO.

So what’s the case doing here? Skip forward to page 12 of the slip opinion, where the court deals with an oft-occurring argument:

PXL_20221218_214724672.MP

Too busy writing those briefs and petitioning for those writs, so haven’t found the time to hit your local store or the interwebs and fulfill your seasonal duties? Or maybe you just have gifter’s block this holiday season about an appropriate present for the dirt lawyer in your life?

You want to be known as

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple, Inc., No. 25-2935 (Dec. 11, 2025), isn’t one the typical readers of this outlet might notice.

After all, it’s mostly about a tech company beef, as the caption might indicate. And the opinion is about one aspect of that beef, where the district court ordered Apple to do something, and then … it didn’t.
Continue Reading CA9: District Court’s Contempt Order Isn’t A Judicial Taking

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following (because it is a product of our shop: we represent the property owners/plaintiffs).

In this Order, the Florida Supreme Court declined to exercise jurisdiction to review the Third District Court of Appeals en banc opinion in Shands v. City of Marathon. So that decision

If you were creating a moot court problem, what topic would you pick? You’d want a question that is a hot topic. Unresolved by the Supreme Court. Controversial, interesting, and complex.

Well, we have just the issue for you: our favorite topic, takings.

That appears to be what the powers-that-be behind Harvard Law School’s moot

Check out a newly-published law review article by lawprof Timothy Harris, “The Contracts Clause Can be Enforced via Section 1983, Period: The Nonexistent Circuit Court ‘Split’,” 78 SMU L. Rev. Forum 106 (2025).

The article delves into the issue of whether 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is the cause of action to bring

A quick one from the South Dakota Supreme Court. But it is well worth your time.

In City of Sioux Falls v. Johnson Properties, LLC, No. 30945 (Nov. 19, 2025), the court upheld a trial court’s award of attorney’s fees to a property owner in an eminent domain action. The final amount of compensation