You remember that case we posted recently, from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in which the court granted summary judgment to a property owner after the city police damaged her home in the course of the police’s apprehension of a suspect. The court rejected the Tenth Circuit’s rationale in a
CA1: Rooker-Feldman Defeats Federal Court Takings Claim By “State Court Losers”
If you understand the headline of this post, congratulations: you are officially so deep in the weeds that you deserve both a Federal Courts and a Takings merit badge.
For those of you not in so deep, here’s the short story behind the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit’s short opinion in Efreom
CA5: “But there’s a big difference between saying that something is property for purposes of procedural due process and saying that it is property for purposes of the Takings Clause”
In Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans, No. 21-30643 (Aug. 22, 2022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, like a lot of other courts, reached an unsurprising conclusion: New Orleans’ restrictions on short-term rental of residential properties isn’t a taking. But there are parts of the opinion that are definitely
Ye Olde Law 608: Eminent Domain & Property Rights, S5E1 @ William & Mary Law
Is there a more appropriate place at which to study property rights and dirt law than William and Mary Law School? After all, it is a stone’s throw from Jamestown, the place where there’s a good argument the concept of property law and property rights first took hold in the New World. As
New Cert Petition (Ours): Can Condemnor Delay Actually Paying Compensation Indefinitely?
Last week, along with my colleagues Deborah La Fetra and Kady Valois, we filed this cert petition in a case we’ve been following (even before we joined as counsel).
The petition seeks review of the Fifth Circuit’s opinion holding that there’s nothing a federal court can do if a local government does not pay
John Quincy Adams Loses A Takings Case
No, not that JQA. (Sorry for the clickbaitey headline.) But who could resist the Fifth Circuit’s per curiam opinion in John Quincy Adams v. Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, No. 21-60749 (July 20, 2022) which held that Mr. Adams, who owned property near a reservoir, could not sue state officials in federal court
CA6: State Officials Enjoy 11th Amendment Immunity From Just Compensation Claims In Federal Court
In Skatemore, Inc. v. Whitmer, No. 21-2985 (July 19, 2022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that neither the Just Compensation Clause, nor the Fourteenth Amendment abrogated the states’ immunity from being sued in federal court for compensation for takings.
This is another one of those cases where — due
Here’s The Full Speaker And Topic List For The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference (Sep 29-30, 2022)
By now, you know that the 19th Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference is set for September 29-30, 2022, at the William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia (register here – space is limited – fee ranges from free to $195 – a bargain!). And you know that our colleague Jim Burling is this
You Can Sue Utah For Compensation In State Court, So No Injunction In Federal Court
No smoking in Hatu
A short one from the U.S. District Court in Utah, but worth reading because it highlights one of those unresolved issues: the remedy for a “takings” claim.
Now, you’ve heard the Supreme Court describe just compensation as the “default” remedy for regulatory takings and inverse claims. But it isn’t the only
Alabama: Government Can’t Keep The Change After A Tax Sale
A long-ish opinion from the Alabama Supreme Court in Douglas v. Roper, No. 1200503 (June 24, 2022). But a short post because the good stuff is relatively brief.
Bottom line: property owners have a vested interest in excess money generated from a tax sale of their property, and the Alabama legislature cannot prohibit the