Municipal & Local Govt law

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Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following for a while, Smyth v. Conservation Comm’n of Falmouth, No. 19-223 (cert. petition filed Aug. 16, 2019). 

The petition seeks review of a Massachusetts decision which held that a judge, not a jury, determines Penn Central takings questions, and also that the owner lost anyhow

Check this out: the Complaint, filed a couple of days ago in federal court against the State of New York (and others), that alleges the state’s recently-adopted rent control regulations is a taking (among other claims). 

It’s a long complaint so we shall leave it to you to delve into the details yourselves. Most

All seemed to be going well for the property owners in a Florida takings case. They obtained a satisfactory compensation judgment for the taking of their healthy citrus trees (yes, this is that case). And because Florida’s Constitution requires “full” compensation, they were also entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs. $13 million in compensation

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You may recall that last October, we attended the first round of Supreme Court oral arguments in the Knick case with our William and Mary law class (Law 608: Eminent Domain and Property Rights).  

And even though there’s not a takings case on the Court’s current docket, we figured that the Maui Clean

Check this out. The Complaint that we’ve been meaning to post for a while, filed last month in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court, alleging that California’s new rent control laws are a taking, among other things.

Are rent control laws takings? Yes, pretty sure about that. But will courts conclude that they are takings?

Here’s the OA video (courtesy of the Michigan Supreme Court) from last week’s arguments in what we’re calling the “keep the change” case. 

That’s the one where the government is arguing that after a property owner was late paying $8.00 in property taxes, the government is not only entitled to foreclose on the property, but

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Protip for the public line for SCOTUS arguments: you have to get there really early. As in really early. Before 5 am early. Because that’s the time that we, along with some of our William and Mary Law students (pictured above, after the arguments), arrived at 1 First Street NE to take up our place

Registration underway, so come join us! Agenda full of hot topics in takings and appraisal law! The best national faculty! Renew friendships, and make new colleagues! And Nashville! 

Download the brochure and make your plans for January. (Don’t wait, we’ve sold out the past three years.)

Here’s the other shoe that we’ve been waiting to drop.

Recall that in our last post on the pending Clean Water Act case (SCOTUS oral arguments scheduled for November 6, 2019 – yeah, as in one week from tomorrow), we suspected that a declaratory judgment action would be filed in a Hawaii state