Due process

A complaint has been filed in U.S. District Court against the mayor of Kauai County, the county  Department of Planning, and the Planning Commission over the Coconut Beach development.  The complaint seeks relief for violations of equal protection, and federal civil rights laws.  Charley Foster has some background on the case here.  Download the…

  • Today’s oral arguments in Missouri Supreme Court in the Tourkakis appeal, a case of an attempted taking for economic development, have been posted here

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Are rumors of the demise of the Ninth Circuit’s Armendariz doctrine greatly exaggerated, or is J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster)’s advice to Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) in the noir classic Sweet Smell of Success more appropriate? 

What brings this to mind is the parting shot in the recently-issued opinion in Matsuda v. City and County of …

I’ve had a chance to review Matsuda v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 06-15337 (Jan 14, 2008), a decision by the Ninth Circuit on the Contracts and Due Process clauses, but which also involves how local governments exercise the power of eminent domain.  The case revolves around Chapter 38 of the Honolulu Revised…

After Lingle v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005)informed us that the “substantially advance a legitimate state interest”test was one of substantive due process, not regulatory takings, the courts began revisiting the long-neglected topic of substantive due process in the land use context. 

  • The Ninth Circuit finally jettisoned the Armendariz v. Penman,

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Several cases focused on the issue of due process notice in eminent domain.  In Divine v Town of Nantucket,449 Mass. 499, ___ N.E.2d ___ (July 19, 2007), the Supreme JudicialCourt of Massachusetts invalidated the town’s 1968 exercise of eminentdomain since the town’staking listed the owners of the property as “owners unknown,” which wasnot sufficient…

It’s a pretty rare event when a court invalidates a law for violating the Equal Protection clauses of either the Hawaii or U.S. Constitution under rational basis review.  In Silva v. City & County of Honolulu, No. 27385 (Aug. 10, 2007), the Hawaii Supreme Court did just that, holding that Haw. Rev. Stat.

An important case from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  In Middletown Township v. The Lands of Josef Seegar Stone, No 64 MAP 2006 (Dec. 28, 2007), the court upheld the power of a local government to take property “for any legitimate purpose,” notwithstanding statutory language that did not extend authority to the town to take…