Public Use | Kelo

We’ve been holding on to this eminent domain necessity decision from the Vermont Supreme Court because we were scheduled to pay a visit to the Green Mountain State (more on that in a subsequent post), and we wanted to include some photos (photos are always good in an otherwise dry law blog post). Mongeon Bay Properties, LLC v. Town of Colchester, No. 25-AP-125 (Jan. 23, 2026), is an eminent domain case where the Town tried to condemn the property (shown above) which is part of a larger unsubdivided parcel owned by Mongeon on the shore of Malletts Bay (part of Lake Champlain). The court invalidated the taking, holding that the Town failed to prove the statutory elements of necessity.
Continue Reading Vermont And The Bare Necessities: Taking Was Unnecessary Because Town Didn’t Bother To Meet Statutory Requirements

In Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District v. Nguyen, No 2025-C-00827 (Mar. 6, 2026), the Louisiana Supreme Court invalidated a quick take by the Port of a vacant 29-acre parcel, because the property was to be leased to “a private company for its exclusive development and use.” Slip op. at 1. [Disclosure: our shop filed an amicus brief, so we had a dog in the hunt.]…
Continue Reading Post-Kelo Amendments To Louisiana Constitution Prohibit Taking To Lease To Private Company For Its Own Use (Even If The Fifth Amendment Might Allow It)

Here’s what’s on our radar screen today: Anthony Flint, How Zoning Won (Bloomberg) (“In 1926, the Supreme Court’s Euclid decision enshrined zoning in US cities. On its 100th anniversary, academics gathered to reflect on the landmark ruling’s mixed legacy.”)…
Continue Reading Today’s Dirt Law Round-Up: Zoning, Public Use, and Penn Central History

We were all set to offer our deep thoughts about the recently-published opinion of the California Court of Appeal in Mendocino Railway v. Meyer, No. A168497 (Jam. 7, 2026), which held that the Skunk Train (a “train to nowhere” that carries tourists up in California’s redwood country) is a “common carrier” with the power…

No better way to start 2026 than to check out the Yale Journal of Regulation‘s (the self-labeled “Nation’s Top-Ranked Administrative and Corporate Law Journal”), for its symposium on the twentieth anniversary of the Kelo case.

Featuring authors who readers of this blog will recognize (all the big names), the symposium features articles you…

As we wrap up another year, it’s time to look ahead to the one event that always gets our eminent domain blood pumping: the annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference. Details, including faculty list, a complete agenda, and registration information is posted here.

Now in its 43rd year, this flagship gathering…

Be sure to check out the opinion of the Texas Court of Appeals (Fourteenth District) in Jones v. Port Freeport, No. 14-23-00948 (Sep. 18, 2025).

This is a challenge to the Port’s attempt to take property in an historic African-American community, with the stated purpose of the taking being “expansion of the Port Facilities” and “the development of business industries.” Slip op. at 3. The owners objected, asserting that there’s gotta be a plan. Or at least a better plan than that.

… Continue Reading Tex App: No Plan, No Public Use, No Eminent Domain: “I’m from the [Port], and I’m here [for a public use]” Is Not Enough
Muchmagnacarta

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following which presents an important issue. So much so that we filed an amicus brief in support of the property owner.

In Town of Apex v. Rubin, No. 206PAA21 (Aug. 22, 2025), the North Carolina Supreme Court held that if a taking is determined to be …

BK2026_logo

As you already know, registration is also underway for the 22d Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, October 23-24, 2025, at the William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The Conference is expressly designed to get legal academics and the nation’s best dirt law practitioners in the same room, discussing how legal scholarship and law…