Just Compensation | Appraisal

HAWSCT

We’re not going to go into very much detail or provide commentary on the Hawaii Supreme Court’s unanimous 88-page opinion in an eminent domain case we’ve been following, City and County of Honolulu v. Victoria Ward, Ltd., No. SCAP-22-0000335 (Dec. 29, 2023), because before we departed private practice for public interest law

As 2023 comes to a close, here are a few of the decisions that we wanted to blog about, but didn’t have the time.

  • Bruce v. Ogden City Corp., No. 22-4114 (10th Cir. Dec. 1, 2023): city demolishing a building that was damaged by fire was not a Lucas taking because the owner

Here are the cases that Michael Berger and I discussed in today’s presentation to the ABA State and Local Government Law Section’s Land Use group. It was good seeing everyone, even virtually:

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Starting in January, we’ll be helping our friend and former law partner Mark M. Murakami with the venerated and oh-so-important Land Use course (Law 580) at the University of Hawaii’s Law School.

We’re temporarily stepping into some mighty big slippers (this is Hawaii, so we don’t always wear shoes), as this is the course that

You might not think that the principle of law the Louisiana Court of Appeal (Fourth Circuit) enunciated in Watson Memorial Spiritual Temple of Christ v. Korban, No. 2023-CA-0293 (Dec. 13, 2023) is really in need of enunciating: if the government takes property, the property owner is entitled to just compensation. Entitled, as in the

GK
Aloha, Gideon

This is one of those posts I wish I didn’t have to write.

I’m sad to report that our teacher, mentor, and friend Professor Gideon Kanner passed away on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, in his 93d year.

Appellate advocacy, eminent domain, and land use legend. Holocaust survivor. Prolific author and speaker. Argued Agins

A big thank you to Clint Schumacher and his Eminent Domain Podcast for having us on the program (this is the sixth time, not that we’re counting). We joined Clint to chat about three breaking issues in eminent domain (highlighted by the intriguing cases we discuss), as well as to preview the upcoming 41st ALI-CLE

Screenshot 2023-11-27 at 08-13-43 Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Webcast of the Hearing on 2023-11-16 - 40302
“Good morning, Justices”

You know that from time to time — mostly thanks to our friend and colleague Shane Rayman and his firm — we cover property goings-on north of the border when a good property rights case comes before the Supreme Court of Canada (see here and here for past examples).

Well, here’s another

“No need to ask, he’s a smooth operator…”

Here’s the amicus brief we just filed in a case we’ve (obviously) been paying close attention to.

This is Devillier v. Texas, the case in which the Supreme Court is considering what does the it mean when it describes the Just Compensation Clause as “self-executing?”

ALI-CLE brochure cover page

Here’s the brochure and the full agenda and registration information for the upcoming ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference at the JW Marriott in New Orleans, February 1-3, 2024.

This is the long-running nationally-focused conference on all things eminent domain, takings, valuation, and related. We have three tracks, from which you can