A slight detour into our other favorite area of law, election law and voting rights. Yesterday, the Democratic Party of Hawaii (finally, after years of hemming and hawing) pulled the trigger on a federal court lawsuit seeking to invalidate Hawaii’s “open primary” laws (Haw. Const. art II, § 4, Haw. Rev. Stat. ch.
42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Civil Rights
Brief In Opposition In SCOTUS Homeless Property Case
Here’s the Brief in Opposition filed recently in City of Los Angeles v. Lavan, No 12-1073 (cert. petition filed Feb. 28, 2013), the case in which the Ninth Circuit in a 2-1 panel decision held that the city could not presume that property owned by homeless people in the Skid Row area was abandoned…
Losing One Of The Good Guys
The Washington Post reports that “Bob Fletcher, who saved farms of interned Japanese Americans, dies at 101,” and tells one small and little-known part of America’s internent of Japanese Americans during the Second World War.
Once the evacuation was ordered and the internments began, Fletcher “quit his job [as a state agricultural inspector]…
Third Circuit: Closing A Business To Remove Unexploded Munitions Is Not A Taking
If you haven’t figured out by now, we like takings claims. We really do. But here’s one where we think the Third Circuit reached the right result when it concluded that there was no compensable taking. National Amusements, Inc. v. Borough of Palmyra, No. 12-1630 (May 9, 2013).
Why? Because when there may be…
Cal App Affirms Penn Central Temporary Regulatory Taking
Here’s the opinion of the California Court of Appeal (1st District) in an appeal we’ve been following, Lockaway Storage v. County of Alameda, No. A30874 (May 9, 2013), affirming that the County of Alameda is liable for a temporary regulatory taking under Penn Central, and awarding the property owners nearly three-quarters of a…
Fifth Circuit: City Not Required To Give Notice Prior To Demolishing Building If It Merely Believed There Was An Emergency
A short one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In RBII, L.P. v. City of San Antonio, No. 11-50626 (Apr. 23, 2013), the court overturned a jury verdict that the city violated the due process and Fourth Amendment rights of a property owner when the city demolished its building without…
The Ninth Circuit Botches Regulatory Takings Again
When reading the Ninth Circuit’s latest foray into the regulatory takings doctrine which holds that a muncipal rent control ordinance did not qualify under Penn Central (MHC Financing Ltd P’ship v. City of San Rafael, No. 07-15983 (Apr. 17, 2013), we were reminded of the opening line in Andy Williams’ signature tune “…
Fla Fed Ct: Exaction Scheme Is “Constitutional Mischief” To Avoid “Nettlesome Payment of ‘Just Compensation'”
Here’s one to brighten your day, courtesy of the the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Flordia (that’s Tampa, to all you non-Floridians). In Hillcrest Property, LLP v. Pasco County, No. 8:10-cv-819-T-23TBM (Apr. 12, 2013), the court held the county’s “Right of Way Preservation Ordinance” that allows it to land…
Amicus Brief In Ninth Circuit Homeless Property Case: No One Has Constitutional Right To Leave Unattended Property On The Street
Here’s the amici brief of the International Municipal Lawyers Association and the National League of Cities, which urges the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Lavan v. City of Los Angeles, 693 F.3d 1022 (9th Cir. 2012).
In that case, a 2-1 panel held that the city could not presume…
Wednesday Round-Up: Houseboat Redux, Backtracking Post-Kelo, Arkansas Game Remand, Big Gulps
Here’s what’s on our reading list today:
- Here’s the latest chapter in the saga of one Fane Lozman, whose titling at windmills got some Supreme Court love recently when the Court held that his floating home was not a “vessel” under admiralty law, and a Florida city was wrong to seize it. My Damon
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