Property rights

Here’s the amicus brief filed yesterday in a Virginia Supreme Court case we’ve been following.

This is a case at the intersection of property and takings law, and environmental protection. Several Nansemond River oystermen own a lease from the state for the riverbed, which among other things, allows them to harvest some of the

Please plan on joining us on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, at 1pm ET (10am PT) for a long-form program on “Emergency and Police Power: Property Claims in Times of Crisis.”

Our speakers are Professors Craig Konnoth (Colorado) and John Nolon (Pace), and one of the lawyers on the forefront of the nationwide legal

As we noted here, property owners sued the New York governor asserting that one of his emergency measures to respond to the coronavirus crisis (a suspension of eviction proceedings) is a taking.

Yesterday, the District Court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, and entered summary judgment in favor of the governor. Order Denying


Here’s the recording of last month’s Federalist Society’s Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group teleforum, “Just Compensation: A Suggestion or a Requirement?

Can states unilaterally decide not to pay takings judgments? Some states think so. Louisiana and Florida have laws that say no takings

Lech

The Supreme Court today declined to review a Tenth Circuit decision that held a municipality could not be liable for a taking when its police officers pretty much destroyed a house in the course of dislodging a suspect who had holed up there. 

Along with our colleague Bill DeVinney, we filed an amicus brief in

A private pipeline company obtained a certificate of public convenience from FERC. Under the Natural Gas Act, FERC may issue such certificates conditioned on the applicant meeting the Clean Water Act’s requirement of obtaining state environmental check off on the project. The pipeline needed an easement across Schuecker’s land, and began the condemnation process under

Here’s the recording of our webinar from earlier this week, in which we and fellow Honolulu lawyer Jeff Portnoy did our best to address some of the many questions that have arisen during the coronavirus shut-down.

Jeffrey Portnoy and Robert Thomas talked about what we can expect as the state and counties slowly lift

A long opinion, but a short post. In Stanford Vina Ranch Irrigation Co. v. California, No. C085762 (June 18, 2020), the California Court of Appeal held that water rights are not really property rights.

That’s a bit of an overstatement, of course. But not a huge one.

In an inverse condemnation case, the court

A new, must-add-to-your-reading-list article from takings and expropriations law scholar Professor Shai Stern.

In “Pandemic Takings: Compensating for Public Health Emergency Regulation,” Professor Stern dives into a question a lot of us have been pondering lately, namely whether the pandemic-related shutdown orders might trigger the Just Compensation imperative in the Fifth Amendment’s

One more to add to your reading queue. The latest complaint alleges, among other claims, that the Illinois governor’s coronavirus shut down orders for businesses deemed “non-essential” result in takings. 

The list of similar challenges keeps growing. See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,