You remember Samuel Beckett’s classic absurdist play, Waiting for Godot. Two guys spend the entire time waiting for another guy (you know who) to show up, but he never does. There are nearly endless interpretations of its meaning (if any), but everyone pretty much agrees that it is at least about the nature of
Due process
Honolulu’s New Short-Term Rental Ordinance Challenged In Federal Court
Here’s one we’re posting without comment, because the Complaint was filed today by my Damon Key colleagues. But here’s a summary of the issues, from the press release:
On August 1, 2019, the Hawaii Vacation Rental Owners Association and Honolulu land use attorney Greg Kugle of the Damon Key law firm, filed a lawsuit in…
Get Ready – ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Nashville Jan. 23-25, 2020
Details soon. In the meantime, get your earlier registration discount.
Upcoming Webinar – Knick Picking Regulatory Takings: Did the Court Right a Wrong, or Wrong a Right? (free for State and Local Govt Law Land Use Committee members)
The Land Use Committee of the ABA’s Section of State and Local Government Law is sponsoring a free (for Section members) informal webinar about the latest in takings law:
Knick Picking Regulatory Takings: Did the Court Right a Wrong, or Wrong a Right?
Friday, July 26 | 2 – 2:30pm ET
Here’s hoping you can…
First Post-Knick Cert Grant
Here’s the first post-Knick property owner victory. That was quick!
Now before you get too excited, this is a GVR (“grant, vacate, remand”) in which the Court, having decided Knick, granted the pending petition, vacated the judgment by the Ninth Circuit, and “REMANDED for further consideration in light of Knick v. Township of Scott…
Public University’s Rip-Off Of Photograph Is Copyright Infringement, Not A Taking
The recent opinion of the Texas Court of Appeals (First District) in University of Houston v. Jim Olive Photography, No. 01-18-00534 (June 11, 2019) addressed a fascinating (and still unsolved) question: does intellectual property qualify as “property” for purposes of the takings clause?
The court held “no,” but that answer isn’t definitive.
The facts…
Links From Today’s Portland Eminent Domain Conference
Here are the links to the cases which were not in your materials. Theme of the day: amateurs!
Our thanks to colleagues Jill Gelineau and Paul Sundermier for asking us to present. It was good to see our Oregon friends again.
…
HAWSCT: PUC Must Consider Whether Renewable Biofuel Energy Plant Might Impact Property Right To Clean And Healthful Environment
On one hand, there’s nothing really new in the Hawaii Supreme Court’s opinion in In re Hawaii Electric Light Co., No. SCOT-17-630 (May 10, 2019), because the court has previously told us the answers to each the component questions in the case:
- On the ultimate question posed in the title, must the PUC consider
…
New Article: Imperfect Takings
A law journal article worth reading (short, not too many distracting footnotes) on takings theory.
In Imperfect Takings, 46 Fordham Urban Law Journal 130 (2019), Professor Shai Stern writes about what he calls the “three safeguards” in eminent domain (due process, public use, and mandatory compensation), and how to evaluate the legality of takings…
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…


