With the opinion in the Knick v. Township of Scott case to drop as soon as Tuesday (we’re guessing the opinion will be by Chief Justice Roberts, by the way), hold on: we’re about to get super nerdy here. Impossibly nerdy. Yes, we’re revisiting the Star Trek analogies. We’ve been down this road before
42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Civil Rights
PruneYard Undone: California’s Union Easement – Which Invites Labor Organizers To Enter Private Property – Isn’t A Physical Taking
The title of this post may have you wondering, especially the part about how a regulation that invites others to physically enter private property, is determined by a court to not be a physical taking. (The court also hints at looking at a physical taking under Penn Central, and not by applying per se…
Ninth Circuit: Local Governments Cannot Enforce 24/7 Ban On Sleeping Or Camping On The Sidewalk If Nowhere Else To Go
As we’ve noted before, the growing homeless and “urban camping” situation seems to be getting worse, and in our perception is reaching the point of being intractable. A trip down the sidewalk of any major city — if you dare, particularly in the west — will confirm. And there are no easy answers…
11th Cir: The Use Of Land Isn’t A Fundamental Right, Even If “What happened to [the owner] here was pretty doggone s[tink]y.”
We’ve been meaning to post the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in Hillcrest Property, LLP v. Pasco County, No. 16-14789 (Feb. 13, 2019), mostly because of the provocative way it starts off:
The question before us is whether a litigant in this Circuit has a substantive-due-process claim under the Due…
Mass App: Regulatory Takings Claims Don’t Get A Jury Trial
Rather than sum up the issue and the Massachusetts Appeals Court’s** conclusion in Smyth v. Conservation Comm’n of Falmouth, No. 17-P-1189 (Feb. 19, 2019), here’s the first part of the opinion:
GREEN, C.J. A land owner brought this action in the Superior Court, claiming that local land use regulation effected a taking of her…
6th Cir (unpub): “Forced Pooling” – Requiring Holdouts To Participate In Fracking – Isn’t A Taking
In the usual circumstance, we wouldn’t be terribly interested in an unpublished — and therefore not precedental — opinion. But the U.S. Court of Appeals’ opinion in Kerns v. Chesapeake Exploration, LLC, No. 18-3636 (Feb. 4, 2019) caught our attention because it involves “forced pooling,” which this site describes this way:
At its most…
Shaka, When The Walls Fell: Knick Is Going To Be About Federalism, Not Takings
With the opinion in the Knick v. Township of Scott case to drop as soon as Tuesday (we’re guessing the opinion will be by Chief Justice Roberts, by the way), hold on. We’re about to get super nerdy here. Impossibly nerdy. Yes, we’re revisiting the Star Trek analogies. We’ve been down this road before…
ALI-CLE Palm Springs (72º, Sunny) Here We Come
If you didn’t register to attend the 36th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference later this week in Palm Springs, California, well then, shame on you!
According to the National Weather Service, while you and the rest of the country is freezing, we’ll be enjoying the balmy desert climes, and discussing…
Knick Post-Argument Round Up
There’s been a lot written after the Supreme Court heard (re)arguments earlier this week in Knick v. Township of Scott, No. 17-647, most of it helpful in understanding what issues the Justices are considering, and how each of them might break on the ultimate question: should Williamson County be overruled, and should property owners…
Hot (Eminent Domain) Topics, Cool Jazz
Don’t Miss the 2019 Eminent Domain Litigation Conference from American Law Institute CLE on Vimeo.
Check out this sound blurb, produced by the good media folks at ALI-CLE, about the upcoming Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference. (And no, we didn’t record this in a jazz club; although I wish we had.)
There’s…



