Austin, Texas, is where we’re at for the next few days, for the 2016 edition of the American Law Institute-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation conference, now in its 33d year. First time we’re in Austin, however, and our registration numbers are looking very good, and we haven’t had this big a turnout in years.
Blight
It’s Here – 2016 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain Conference: Complete Agenda, Faculty, Registration Information
Here’s the full agenda for the 2016 Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation / Condemnation 101 Conference, January 28-30, 2016, in Austin, Texas.
Together with our friend and colleague Joe Waldo, we think we’re put together a pretty good program that covers a lot of ground. This is the first time the conference has been…
Breaking Up Communities For Redevelopment
A piece on the humor site Cracked, “4 Thriving Communities That Rich People Destroyed On Purpose,” tells an old story: modest-but-decent places “redeveloped” into (1) Dodger Stadium, (2) Brazil’s Olympic venues; (3) the Salton Sea, and (4) Central Park, respectively.
(We note that the segment on the Salton Sea is the…
Upcoming APA Webinar: 2015 Planning Law Review
On Wednesday, July 1, 2015, the American Planning Association is putting on the 2015 Planning Law Review, a program highlighting the most important and topical cases decided by the courts recently. Here’s the program description:
Planning feels the impact of decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, federal district courts, and state courts. How will…
Kelo At 10: Still Stinks, And A Decade Has Not Lessened The Odor
In case you somehow missed it, takings junkies, today, June 23, 2015, is the tenth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s excreable 5-4 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), and just about anyone who is anyone in our field has weighed in with a retrospective. We don’t have much…
Upcoming Conference On Kelo’s 10th Anniversary
Hardly seems like a decade ago that the Supreme Court gave us eminent domain lawyers something to talk about at cocktail parties: the Court’s infamous and widely-hated decision in Kelo v. City of New London.
Find out about what the intervening ten years has brought us from the Cato Institute, which is sponsoring a…
New Jersey: When Designating Blight, Baby Can Be Tossed Without First Showing The Bathwater’s Dirty
A few years ago, in Gallenthin Realty Development, Inc. v Borough of Paulsboro, 191 N.J. 344 (2007), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that in order to target property for redevelopment as “blighted,” the government must show that it is in such condition that it “negatively affects surrounding areas” by promoting conditions that can develop…
The Chicago Way: City Taking Non-Blighted Property For Economic Development Was Not Pretextual Because … Studies
This is a longer post, but since we think this case may be going further and is worth watching, we’re going to hit it up in some detail.
In City of Chicago v. Eychaner, No. 05L050792 (Jan. 21, 2015), the Illinois Appellate Court upheld the taking of private vacant land near the Chicago Loop (Eychaner’s…
4th Cir OK’s City’s Sign Ordinance: You Can “Whisper” Your Anti-Eminent Domain Message, But You Can’t “Shout” It
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit concluded that Norfolk, Virginia’s sign ordinance did not violate the First Amendment, when it was applied to bar the anti-eminent domain banner shown above.
Central Radio Co. Inc. v. City of Norfolk, No. 13-1996 (4th Cir. Jan. 13, 2015), arose from…
Texas (Reluctantly) Finds No Regulatory Takings Claim
The Texas Supreme Court is generally pretty good about property rights. See this opinion, this one, and this one, for examples.
So when the legal analysis in one of its regulatory takings/inverse condemnation opinions has the following language — especially in a case where a municipal government has treated the plaintiffs/property owners very…




