Last year, we posted about the Brigham-Kanner Conference, the annual meeting at William and Mary Law School where we talk all things property rights and award the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. (By the way, this year’s conference will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands in October. But more on that soon, in
The Polar Vortex Made Us Do It: Pa Appeals Court Approves Pipeline Taking
We’re meeting some deadlines today, so we don’t have much time to digest in detail the closely split decision by the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in In re Condemnation by Sunoco Pipeline, L.P., No. 1979 C.D. 2015 (July 14, 2016).
The short story is that the majority upheld the power of Sunoco to take private
Rail: Building To The Nowhere Of Middle?
As we noted last week, the expanding costs of the Honolulu Rail project has forced Honolulu’s mayor to ask whether construction should be delayed or stopped entirely, short of its planned terminus at Ala Moana shopping center. “Middle Street” became the new rail watchword, even though stopping it there would omit — temporarily or
Holdouts And Regrades, Seattle Style
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
Docfilm “Exodus” – The Stories Of Those Being Displaced By Eminent Domain
Another neighborhood gone, more lives scattered by eminent domain. Watch or listen.
More on the film and the background of the situation in St. Louis here.
6th Cir: Avoid Your RLUIPA Problems By Condemning Church-Owned Property, Then Selling It “to a buyer that the government thinks offers superior economic benefits”
Check out this post (“Did the Sixth Circuit Unintentionally Adopt an RLUIPA Equal Terms Test?“) from RLUIPA gurus Evan Seeman, Karla Chaffee, and Dwight Merriam on their RLUIPA Defense blog, analyzing the Sixth Circuit’s recent opinion in Tree of Life Christian Schools v. City of Upper Arlington, No. 14-3469 (May 18, 2016).
Montana Supreme Court Live Streams Arguments In “More Necessary” Public Use Case: Can A Municipality Seize The Local Water Utility?
Update: Oral argument audio posted above.
Update: “State’s High Court Hears Arguments In Mountain Water Appeal On Wide-Ranging Issues”
Update: “Montana Supreme Court Justices quiz lawyers on eminent domain, finances“
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The condemnation of privately owned utilities is a thing these days. Seems like many local governments believe they can do
Utah: City Can’t Condemn Property From A To Exchange With B, Even Where B’s Use Would Be Public
As part of a railroad realignment project, Salt Lake City needed B’s land. But B wouldn’t sell, and since B’s land was already committed to public use as a power substation, the city had doubts whether it could condemn it. So the city and B agreed that B would voluntarily give the city the land
Mississippi: Statute That Says No Private Takings For Access Within City Limits Means Just That
Mississippi, like many states, by statute allows private parties to condemn a neighbor’s land for use as a private access road, if doing so is “necessary” for a landlocked parcel to gain ingress and egress. This power is subject to limitations: for example, the parcel must be truly landlocked with no other access. Mississippi apparently has
Colo App: Town Can Use Lottery Money For Trail Project, Despite Constitutional Prohibition On Using Funds To “Acquire” Property By Eminent Domain
Colorado’s Constitution prohibits the use of proceeds from the state lottery, which are used to fund the “Great Outdoor Colorado Program” Trust Fund from being “used to acquire real property by condemnation through the power of eminent domain.” Colo. Const. art. XXVII, § 9.
The Town of Silverthorne used trust fund money on a recreational trail project