Here’s one we’ve been meaning to post for a while. In Bd. of Comm’rs of Mill Creek Park Metro Dist. v. Less, No. 20MA0074 (Apr. 14, 2022), the Ohio Court of Appeals held that the Park District lacked the authority to condemn Less’s property for a bike path, which did not qualify under the
Robert H. Thomas
Hawaii Land Use Law Conference, May 25-26, 2022, Honolulu – Join Us!
It’s back! After a hiatus on the in-person program, the bi-annual Hawaii Land Use Conference is back in-person (see here for a sample of one of our prior presentations at this conference).
May 25 and 26, 2022, downtown Honolulu.
The full agenda and speaker list has not yet been published, but here’s a summary…
New Article (Bethany Berger): “Property and the Right to Enter”
A new article by lawprof Bethany Berger, “Property and the Right to Enter,” criticizing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Cedar Point Nursery. The article builds on the amicus brief in the case, also authored by Prof Berger.
Here’s the Abstract:
On June 23, 2021, the Supreme Court decided Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, holding that laws that authorize entry to land are takings without regard to duration, impact, or the public interest. The decision runs roughshod over precedent, but it does something more. It undermines the important place of rights to enter in preserving the virtues of property itself. This Article examines rights to enter as a matter of theory, history, and constitutional law, arguing that the law has always recognized their essential role. Throughout history, moreover, expansions of legal exclusion have often reflected unjust domination antithetical to property norms. The legal advocacy that led to Cedar Point continues this trend, both undermining protections for vulnerable immigrant workers in this case, and succeeding in a decades long effort to use exclusion as a constitutional shield against regulation.
Definitely worth reading.
Continue Reading New Article (Bethany Berger): “Property and the Right to Enter”
Links From Last Week’s Georgia Bar Association Eminent Domain Conference
Here are the links to the cases and other materials that we talked about last Friday at the Georgia Bar Association’s annual Eminent Domain Conference. Our talk was entitled “It’s the Chief Justice’s Property World, We Just Live In It: National Trends in Takings, Property, & Eminent Domain,” and was part of…
New Article: Woolhandler & Mahoney, Federal Courts and Takings Litigation, 97 Notre Dame L. Rev. 679 (2022)
A new article on takings from U. Virginia Law School profs Ann Woolhandler and Julia Mahoney in the Notre Dame Law Review, “Federal Courts and Takings Litigation.” Get the pdf here.
Rather than try and summarize the piece, we’re just going to cut-and-paste the highlights from the article’s Introduction:
While Knick clearly expands…
Today Is Hawaii’s Secular Good Friday Holiday – A Day To Celebrate Public Worker Unions
Even if the world were open today, the doors to most Hawaii state, county, and city offices would still be locked. Because today is the day that Hawaii celebrates Good Friday.
Yes, Good Friday is an an official state-sanctioned holiday in the 808 area code, so we’re reposting our annual recounting of how it…
Are The Federal Courts Powerless When A Condemnor Doesn’t Pay Just Compensation?
Not too long ago, we posted the Fifth Circuit’s panel opinion in a case where the court held that there’s nothing a federal court can do if a local government does not pay a state-court just compensation judgment. We filed an amicus brief in that case arguing “[t]he Takings Clause does not permit the Sewerage …
Fla App: No Taking, Because COVID Is A Really Good Reason To Shut Bars Down
Another takings challenge to a Co-19 shutdown, another “no taking” result.
This time, it is from the Florida District Court of Appeal (Fifth District). In Orlando Bar Group, LLC v. Desantis, No.5D21-1248 (Apr. 8, 2022), the court affirmed dismissal of takings challenges to the governor’s emergency order that barred certain alcohol sales, and…
CA8: Yee v. Escondido Doesn’t Save Eviction Moratorium From Takings Review
Here’s the latest case challenging a pandemic-related eviction moratorium, this one from Minnesota and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
In Heights Apts, LLC v. Walz, No. 21-1278 (Apr. 5, 2022), the court reversed the district court’s dismissal of a property owner’s takings claims. The owner challenged the Minnesota governor’s residential…
It’s Official, So Mark Your Calendars: ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference: Feb 2-4, 2023, Austin, Texas
When we met for the 39th ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference in-person in Scottsdale a couple of months ago, we hinted that you’d like the venue for the 2023 Conference. We say “hinted” because without an executed contract with the venue, we could not officially announce it.
But the good folks…





