Cornell lawprof Robert Hockett, the guy who by all accounts thought up of the idea of using eminent domain to take “blighted” (underwater, but mostly performing) mortgages, was interviewed on “Air Occupy” about the scheme yesterday. Here’s the podcast (we originally embedded the podcast below, but the darn thing was set to play automatically
The Eminent Domain Angle In Nuclear Tourism
During a break at the recent ABA State and Local Government Law Fall meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we took a short ride up to the town of Los Alamos for a little “nuclear tourism” at the site of the current National Lab, and, of course, the place where the first two atomic
Should The Honolulu Charter Eliminate The Already Minimal Check Of A Mayoral Veto On Eminent Domain Resolutions?
The Honolulu City Council has proposed a charter amendment that asks the voters to approve eliminating the Mayor’s current veto power over the Council’s eminent domain resolutions.
The Resolution doesn’t directly say that, of course, but what it does command is that after the Council adopts a resolution to take property, the city administration must
10th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference And Prize – Thomas Merrill
The last couple of days, we’ve returned to Williamsburg, Virginia to attend the annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference at the William and Mary Law School.
The Conference is the annual gathering of legal scholars and practitioners who focus on property law and property rights to celebrate the award the B-K Prize to “an individual whose
IMLA Conference Session On Koontz, Harvey Cedars, Relevant Parcel
A big thanks to my Owners Counsel of America and ABA State and Local Government Law Section colleague Dwight Merriam for emceeing today’s well-attended double session on land use and takings law at the International Municipal Lawyers Association’s 2013 annual meeting in San Francisco. Dwight and I were joined by land use expert Cecily
Surprise – New Article In Mortgage Resolution Partners Law Review: Use Of Eminent Domain To Take Mortgages OK!
Check this out: the lawprof who thought up the underwater mortgage taking plan, Cornell’s Robert Hockett, along with his co-author, the “Founder and Chief Strategy Officer” of Mortgage Resolution Partners (the venture capitalists who are funding the scheme and who stand to benefit from it), have posted a new article in the Harvard Law
Indiana S Ct: We Goofed
A very short opinion (2 pages) about why a trial court cannot consider issues regarding damages when the property owner failed to timely object to the report filed by the court-appointed appraisers. In Clark Cnty. Bd. of Aviation Comm’rs v. Dreyer, No. 10S01-1308-PL-529 (Sep. 12, 2013), the Indiana Supreme Court held it was not
The Latest On The Mortgage Takings Issue
It’s Monday and we’ve got a petition due Tuesday, so we’re not going to spend too much time on posting today. But we did want to update you on the latest on the mortgage front.
- A San Francisco federal judge concluded that it was too early to bring the lawsuits challenging the takings. This
Virginia S Ct: No Taking Of Non-Blighted Property That Happens To Be In An Area Designated “Blighted”
Earlier today, the Virginia Supreme Court, in PKO Ventures, LLC v. Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, No. 121534 (Sep. 12, 2013), invalidated takings of non-blighted properties which were part of a larger area designated as blighted.
In 2007, Virginia adopted a statute requiring that if property is taken to eliminate blight, the property
Merriam On Taking Underwater Mortgages: “Lindsay Lohan has a greater chance of staying out of trouble than the city of Richmond”
Dwight Merriam, familiar to our readers for the items of interest he frequently forwards, as a co-author of a recent brief in the New York rent control case, chapter author in the seminal eminent domain treatise Nichols on Eminent Domain, for being the editor of the ABA’s annual “Cutting Edge”