That’s right, it’s time to plan on joining us at the 22d edition of the best one-day property law conference, William and Mary Law School‘s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference.
As we noted, Professor William Fischel will be awarded the 2025 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the annual Wren Building candlelight ceremony in Williamsburg
An interesting and timely decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In United States v. Bennett, No. 23-40680 (July 24, 2025), way back in the day Hidalgo County, Texas, acquired an easement over her land to construct and maintain a flood-control levee, with the County soon thereafter assigning its rights
It appears that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has addressed the issue the U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped recently in DeVillier v. Texas, 601 U.S. 285 (2024): do you need Congress’s ok to sue for just compensation for a taking?
In Fulton v. Fulton County Bd of Commissioners, No. 22012041
Today we have a guest post by New York colleague Jennifer Polovetsky, who writes about an age-old question: what are “special benefits” that accrue to the remainder in a partial taking, and can these benefits be offset against just compensation or severance damages?
Thanks to Jennifer (and to the New York Law Journal) for
810 years ago today* on a grassy plain down by the river, the barons convinced bad King John to affix his seal to Magna Carta. Or the Magna Carta. Or Magna Charta. However you want to grammarize it. (And no, he didn’t “sign” it, they didn’t do things like that back then.)
And
Mark your calendars — or better yet, register now — for the 8th Annual Texas Eminent Domain Conference (Houston), August 14-15, 2025.
We’ve attended in the past, and can report from first-hand experience that it is a great conference, chock-full of the information you need for eminent domain practice in the Lone Star State.
Be sure to check this out. The Practical Real Estate Lawyer has published an article by colleague Matthew Ackerman (who has since become a Michigan Court of Appeals judge).
In “The Pitfalls of Objectively Measured Just Compensation: When Market Value Isn’t Enough” (pdf here), he writes about the ways that
Want to learn of some of the options available to property owners whose land is taken by eminent domain (or, even more sadly, destroyed by a disaster)?
Then you should sign up for next week’s ALI-CLE webinar, “1033 Exchanges: Advanced Strategies for Optimal Tax Deferral.”
Here’s a description of the program:
When property
Partial taking for highway project. You know what that means: severance damages. And you also know that often means a “general or special” benefits fight over how the remainder parcel may have been improved by the project, and whether these benefits can reduce the severance owed.
Before-the-project condition: undeveloped land on a frontage road with
