Municipal & Local Govt law

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Mr. Otis would be a P’Nut fan.

Our Pacific Legal Foundation colleague and search-and-seizure expert Daniel Woislaw quickly responded to the cultural zeitgeist and looked into l‘affaire P’nut le Squirrel with his keen legal eye.

That’s the case in which an internet narc dropped dime on the owner of a pet squirrel, resulting in

Screenshot 2024-11-04 at 12-34-18 Texas Supreme Court
Charles McFarland, arguing.

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following closely (and disclosure: our firm filed an amicus brief in the Texas Supreme Court).

In The Commons of Lake Houston, Ltd. v. City of Houston, the Texas Court of Appeals held that the city could not be liable for a taking

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following, which has now results in a cert petition from Michael Berger. This one involves some very intriguing questions about what limits the Constitution places on the government acquiring property for a public use (in this case, an “airport purpose”) but then later deciding it

Screenshot 2024-10-25 at 13-19-32 Housing and Exactions The Next Frontiers After Sheetz Pacific Legal Foundation

Our outfit (Pacific Legal Foundation) has put out a call for papers. on the topic of land use exactions and housing law. Honorarium included for accepted papers, and there will be a workshop to follow.

Here’s the description:

This workshop seeks to build on the result of Sheetz v. County of El Dorado and

Screenshot 2024-10-24 at 12-28-24 Vacancy Taxes A Possible Taking The University of Chicago Law Review

A new student-authored journal article worth reading, Christine Dong, “Vacancy Taxes: A Possible Taking?,” 91 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1725 (2024).

Here’s the Abstract:

Vacancy taxes are an increasingly popular solution to the paradoxical problem of high housing demand coupled with high vacancy. Cities across the country facing housing shortages have either implemented

Brinkmann

So close: if just one more Justice had agreed, the U.S. Supreme Court would have taken up a public use case we’ve been following, Brinkmann v. Town of Southhold. After all, this one had a lot of the usual markers: a divided court below, an allegation of a lower court split, beaucoup amicus support

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following, which asks whether a local ordinance which allowed non-paying tenants to remain in the lessor’s property is a physical taking, or merely the regulation of the lessor/lessee relationship under the Yee theory, which posits that once an owner voluntarily rents property to a tenant

This one from the Tenth Circuit didn’t even merit a published opinion, but is still worth reading, just because the situation seems so absurd.

In this Order and Judgment, the court affirmed the dismissal of property owners’ claim that the County wouldn’t issue a septic permit until after the owners actually constructed the septic

Screenshot 2024-10-11 at 08-06-50 RPFSS

Hawaii lawyers (and those barred in the 808), take note: On October 21, 2024, the Hawaii State Bar Association will hold its annual Convention, and as always there’s a full lineup of CLE programs so you can meet your MCLE requirements.

Thanks to the Real Property & Financial Services Section, there’s a significant dirt law

CRE prize

Congratulations to our Pacific Legal Foundation colleague Brian Hodges for his article “Build-to-Rent Homes: A Promising Solution to Chronic Housing Shortages” being awarded the 2024 Jared Shales Prize by the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE).

From the Introduction:

When homeownership is increasingly out of reach for many, build-to-rent (BTR) housing offers a