Here’s the latest decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court applying the “private attorney general” doctrine, which allows a prevailing party to recover fees and costs in certain limited circumstances. In Kaleikini v. Yoshioka, No. SCAP-11-0000611 (May 2, 2013), the court awarded attorneys’ fees and costs incurred on appeal to the plaintiffs who prevailed in
Materials From Today’s Virginia Eminent Domain Conference
For those of you attending the Virginia Eminent Domain Conference, here’s the expanded papers on “Tough Takings Questions: Regulatory Takings, Zoning Issues and Judicial Takings” and Public Use issues.
Use the password provided at the conference to open the pdf’s. It’s the same p/w for both. If you forgot the password, email me.
For those who did not attend, sorry folks, there are some benefits to coming to a conference! Y’all are going to have to wait for a bit — after a decent interval to allow the attendees to get their money’s worth, we’ll remove the password.
For more about the cases and books we discussed yesterday during my presentation on “Virginia’s Place in National Eminent Domain Trends, check these out:
- Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229 (1984) (private takings, Public Use Clause).
- Lingle v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005) (gas station rent control, and the demise of the “substantially advance” test as a takings test).
- Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U.S. 164 (1979) (navigable waters, regulatory takings).
- Livingston v. Virginia Dep’t of Transportation, 726 S.E.2d 264 (Va. 2012) (flooding and taking liability).
- James Ely, The Guardian of Every Other Right: A Constitutional History of Property Rights (1998) (read this book!).
Continue Reading Materials From Today’s Virginia Eminent Domain Conference
Fifth Circuit: City Not Required To Give Notice Prior To Demolishing Building If It Merely Believed There Was An Emergency
A short one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In RBII, L.P. v. City of San Antonio, No. 11-50626 (Apr. 23, 2013), the court overturned a jury verdict that the city violated the due process and Fourth Amendment rights of a property owner when the city demolished its building without
Fla Fed Ct: Exaction Scheme Is “Constitutional Mischief” To Avoid “Nettlesome Payment of ‘Just Compensation'”
Here’s one to brighten your day, courtesy of the the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Flordia (that’s Tampa, to all you non-Floridians). In Hillcrest Property, LLP v. Pasco County, No. 8:10-cv-819-T-23TBM (Apr. 12, 2013), the court held the county’s “Right of Way Preservation Ordinance” that allows it to land
Strong Letter To Follow…
Yesterday, we posted our thoughts on a recent article in Hawaii Business magazine about land use, environmental law, and the Hawaii Supreme Court.
In “‘Let ‘Em Eat Cake’ Comes to Hawaii, Professor Gideon Kanner has added his thought on the article. He comments on the article’s conclusion that “[i]f we don’t like the [environmental] laws anymore, we can elect officials to change them.” by writing:
Hawaii Business magazine have never heard about the principle that statutes have to be constitutional? Would they make the same argument in the case of overreaching criminal laws? Racial segregation laws? Laws impairing the exercise of the First Amendment?
…
Moreover, under the “reasoning” of these idiots, no law need be constitutional because if the legislature disregards a provision of the Bill of Rights, we can tell the complaining citizens to be better electors next time and to elect more constitutionally sensitive representatives.
Lord in heaven! Is there no limit to these guys’ stupidity? Evidently not.
Read his entire commentary here. By the way, before you are tempted to dismiss Professor Kanner as an outlander (yes, Justice Scalia really did call out-of-staters “outlanders” in a recent oral argument), his ties to Hawaii and his knowledge of our ways go way, way back.
Continue Reading Strong Letter To Follow…
Hawaii Supreme Court Gets Into The Weeds On Shorelines
oral Several justices (Justice Acoba, Justice Pollock) appeared quite hostile to the DLNR’s position. Their questions went beyond the usual “devil’s advocate” type questions where the questioner is testing a theory, or speaking through counsel to the other justices.
The Judiciary’s web site summarized the issues argued:
On January 11, 2008, Respondents Craig Dobbin and
Hawaii Business Mag Story Misses The Big Issue On Development, Environmental Law, And Land Use
In “Why big development is so difficult in Hawaii,” Hawaii Business magazine tackles an issue first raised by U. Hawaii lawprof David Callies in recently-published law review article (and follow-up interview), where he labeled the record of the 1993-2010 Hawaii Supreme Court on property issues “appalling” (80% overall success rate for environmental
J.R. (Or Major Nelson) Adversely Possesses Neighbor’s Land
Here’s one of those owner-puts-up-a-fence-that-is-actually-on-his-neighbor’s-property situations, this time with a very Hollywood twist.
The owner, you see, was Larry Hagman, of Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie fame. Seems the fence between his Ojai, California property and that of his neighbors, a religous group, was .44 acres into their land, and Hagman claimed
Wednesday Round-Up: Houseboat Redux, Backtracking Post-Kelo, Arkansas Game Remand, Big Gulps
Here’s what’s on our reading list today:
- Here’s the latest chapter in the saga of one Fane Lozman, whose titling at windmills got some Supreme Court love recently when the Court held that his floating home was not a “vessel” under admiralty law, and a Florida city was wrong to seize it. My Damon
Amici Brief: The Tenth Amendment, The Property Clause, And The “Town Too Tough To Die”
Today, on behalf of the Cato Institute and a coalition of Western-state public policy and research foundations, we filed this amicus brief in supporting the City of Tombstone‘s cert petition in City of Tombstone v. United States, No. 12-1069 (cert. petition filed Feb. 27, 2013).
In that case, in 2011 a forest fire