Municipal & Local Govt law

20160126_163953

It’s a good day. You win your takings case in the Texas Supreme Court. True, it’s a narrow 5-4 victory, and it merely reverses summary judgment against you, which means only that you live to fight another day. But a win is a win, we always say. The decision is based on the Texas Constitution, which

20160616_151731

As readers know, from time to time, we undertake what might be called “eminent domain tourism” — visiting the sites of famous and infamous cases when we’re in the neighborhood. Hadacheck, Kaiser Aetna, Nollan, Dolan, and PruneYard, for example.

Perhaps the best illustration of the “holdout” comes from Seattle (see

20160529_124542

In a surprise move, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell today announced that he supports suspending the Honolulu rail project at Middle Street, at least until there’s more money in the coffers. See “Mayor, Council chairman say rail should end at Middle Street for now” from Marcel Honore at the Star-Advertiser.

We think the

A new(er) law review article, worth reading, from Dean Shelly Saxer, “When Local Government Misbehaves,” 2016 Utah L. Rev. 105 (2016). Here’s the abstract:

In this article, Dean Saxer examines the Supreme Court’s decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District. In that land use case, the Court held that proposed

All you preemption, agriculture, municipal and local government law junkies, take note: later today, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals will hear arguments in three cases, each of which is an appeal of the District Court’s seriatim invalidation of county ordinances which regulated GMO and pesticide use in Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii Counties

20160609_095451

A very good crowd for today’s Oregon Eminent Domain Conference in Portland. 

Here are the links to the cases and other materials that we spoke about today in our session “Inverse Condemnation and Regulatory Takings – Issues and Trends.”  

Our thanks to Planning Chairs Jill Geleneau and Paul Sundermier for putting together a great

20160603_075340

As we head into the weekend, one more reminder about two worthwhile eventss being staged next week: 

Frisco

The plaintiffs in FLCT, Ltd. v. City of Frisco, No. 02-14-00335-CV (May 26, 2016), owned two adjoining parcels in the Dallas-Ft Worth area at the southeast corner what could be a very busy (and therefore profitable) intersection of two parkways. After checking with the city that the restriction in the Commercial zoning which prohibited

1

The dramatic moment of the day during last Thursday’s California Supreme Court oral arguments in City of Perris v. Stamper, No. S213468 (which we previewed here: “Cal Supreme Court Oral Argument Preview: In Just Comp Trial, Does Jury Determine Reasonable Probability Of Exaction?“), occurred during the rebuttal arguments by the city’s lawyer. The case