A Lahaina business owner has sued the County of Maui in federal court in Honolulu. In Goo v. County of Maui, CV 08-00172 DAE (filed Apr. 17, 2008), the Complaint alleges the County and Planning Department officials drove the International Open Market Place, a gift and craft fair, out of business by deliberately favoring
Due process
Condemnation Blight and Clouding Use
By Robert H. Thomas on
On the topic of the Willets Point case, inequitable precondemnation activities, and condemnation blight, thanks to Professor Gideon Kanner for reminding us of his seminal article on the subject, Condemnation Blight: Just How Just Is Just Compensation?, 48 Notre Dame Law Review 765 (1973) (the Notre Dame Law Review was then called the Notre…
Blighting Property by Inequitable Precondemnation Activities
By Robert H. Thomas on
Thanks to No Land Grab for informing us of the latest eminent domain action from New York City, this time with an interesting twist. In Willets Point Industry and Realty Ass’n v. City of New York, No. 08-1453 (E.D.N.Y. filed Apr. 9, 2008), land and business owners in Queen’s, N.Y. filed a federal court…
Opening Brief in Kona Eminent Domain Appeals: Damages for Failed Condemnations, Abatement, and Pretext
By Robert H. Thomas on
Today, we filed the Opening Brief in County of Hawaii v. Richards, No. 28882, the consolidated appeal from two eminent domain lawsuits filed by the County in 2000 and 2005. I won’t go into detail about the case and will let the brief speak for itself since I am part of the legal team…
Cases and Links From Today’s Seminar
To all those who attended today’s seminar, thank you. Here are the links to the cases I mentioned. From the morning session on Case Law Update:
- Wilkie – Government Gone Wild! – no comprehensive federal remedy for federal interference with property
- My Advertiser op-ed on Wilkie
- Crown Point – Ninth Circuit abandons Armendariz doctrine
- Cine
…
Cert Petition in Goldstein v. Pataki: How to Plead Kelo Pretext
By Robert H. Thomas on
The homeowners threatened with eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in Goldstein v. Pataki, 516 F.3d 50 (2d Cir. 2008).
The petition points out the schizophrenic nature of Public Use analysis after Kelo: on one hand, the Court’s holding…
Well, What Do You Know: Condemnees Have Due Process Rights!
By Robert H. Thomas on
Posted in Due process, Property rights
In a series of decisions that in any context but eminent domain would be unsurprising, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, held that a property owner whose land is targeted for involuntary acquisition is entitled to be told about it first.
In Harrison Redevelopment Agency v. DeRose, Nos. A-0958-06T2, A-0382-07T2 (Feb. 25, 2008)…
New Article: Property Rights in the Ninth Circuit, And Beyond
By Robert H. Thomas on
The Federalist Society has posted a new edition of Engage – The Journal of Federalist Society Practice Groups, a newsletter-format publication with short scholarly articles on topics such as Administrative Law, Environmental Law and Property Rights, and Civil Rights, among others.
The most interesting article in this edition is Property Rights in the Ninth …
Order in Florida Short Term Rental Case
By Robert H. Thomas on
Here’s the written order (1.8mb pdf) in Milo v. City of Venice, Case No. 2008 CA 552 SC (Mar. 17, 2008), the Florida case invalidating a municipality’s restrictions on short term rentals that I posted earlier. The case arose after the city’s planning director determined that the local zoning ordinance restricted short term rentals…
6th Circuit: We Have No Jurisdiction, But We Rule Against The Property Owner Anyway
If you picked up and read a copy of Braun v. Ann Arbor Charter Township, No. 07-1370 (Mar. 13, 2008), an opinion by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, without having read the briefs of the parties and the decision of the court below, you might not see anything terribly…