We recently attended the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in Denver to speak at the Section of State and Local Government Law’s program, “The 100th Anniversary of Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon: How the Takings Clause Became the Primary Check on Government Power When SCOTUS Abandoned Review Under the Due Process and Contracts Clauses
Robert H. Thomas
Live The Dream! Teach Dirt Law In Hawaii: UH Law School Looking For Property & Land Use Lawprof

(Tip for applicants: understanding the symbology of the
Law School’s logo will show you know the score.)
Here’s your chance to teach Property and Land Use in what might be most interesting venue on Planet Earth for those subjects: the University of Hawaii School of Law has put out a call for applications for…
What If The Hawaii Governor’s Cutting Of The Gordian Land Use/Environmental Knot Actually Works?
The two-plus years under the declared Co-19 emergency surely have given Hawaii’s executive-branch officials a clear vision of how much easier they could get their agendas accomplished without all that pesky democracy.
Hawaii’s Sweeping Emergency Management Act: Governor is the “Sole Judge”
Hawaii’s Emergency Management Act gives state and county executives broad and nearly unreviewable…
New Article – “Necessity Exceptions to Takings” (Shelley Ross Saxer)
Worth checking out: a new article from Pepperdine Law School’s Shelley Ross Saxer, published in the University of Hawaii Law Review, “Necessity Exceptions to Takings,” 44 U. Haw. L. Rev. 60 (2022). [Disclosure: as noted in the author’s note, we reviewed an earlier draft of the piece and provided some thoughts.]…
CA11’s Eminent Domain Attorneys Fees Ruling Is Controlled By Prior Panel
The Eleventh Circuit’s short opinion (really short – 1.5 pages) in Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC v. 3-921 Acres of Land, No. 22-10435 (July 25, 2023), is straightforward: to resolve whether a Florida property owner subject to a private condemnor taking under the federal Natural Gas Act has a property right in attorneys fees and…
Ohio S Ct Rejects Attempt To Import Regulatory Takings Ripeness Into Physical Takings
A short (but interesting) one from the Ohio Supreme Court. In State ex rel. Balunek v. Marchbanks, No. 2021-1469 (July 25, 2023), the court held that a physical takings claim alleging the DOT cut off access to property was ripe, even though the owner might have applied for permit to gain access.
As part…
Tuesday Property Round-Up (International Edition)
Here’s what we’re reading today:
- Timothy Harris, Backwards Federalism: The Withering Importance of State Property Law in Modern Takings Jurisprudence, 75 Rutgers L. Rev. ___ (2023) (“Modern Supreme Court Fifth Amendment takings cases have – paradoxically — diminished the role and importance of state law. Doing so creates uncertainty and unpredictability in determining where
…
Tex App: Nollan/Dolan Challenge To Annexation Fees Not Ripe: You Have To Apply For Annexation To Find Out What The Fee Will Be
The city told an owner whose three parcels were outside of the city’s jurisdiction that if it wanted the city’s permission to replat into 74 parcels, it would need city water and sewer service to each of the proposed lots.
So the owner asked to connect to the city’s water and sewer system (deliberately overbuilt…
New Article: Application of the Penn Central Test
Here’s a recently-published article (ALI-CLE’s The Practical Real Estate Lawyer) on a subject that we know you will want to read about: Jon Houghton, Hertha Lund, and Ben Stormes, Application of the Penn Central Test, 7 Prac. Real Estate Lawyer 7 (May 2023).
Check it out. It’s short, practical (naturally), and…
Ohio S Ct In Power-To-Take Case: Too Soon!
The latest in a case we’ve been following doesn’t get to the substantive issue: is a local park district authorized to take private property for a bike path when the statute authorizes takings for “conservation of natural resources?”
Instead, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the appeal for a familiar reason: lack of a final judgment.



