Join us on Friday, August 4, 2023 (10:30-11:30am, MT) in Denver at the ABA Annual Meeting for our CLE session on “The 100th Anniversary of Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon: How the Takings Clause Became the Primary Check on Government Power When SCOTUS Abandoned Review Under the Due Process and Contracts Clauses
Regulatory takings
Don’t Release The Hounds! No Taking When Florida Voters Outlawed Dog Race Gambling
A short one from the Florida District Court of Appeals (First District).
In D’Arcy v. Florida Gaming Control Comm’n, No. 1D21-3606 (May 24, 2023), the court held that the voters of Florida adopted Amendment 13 to the Florida Constitution that outlawed betting on greyhound racing (indeed betting all dog racing), it did not effect…
SC: No Penn Central Taking For City Ordinance Merging Contiguous-But-Separate Parcels
As you can tell from the date of the opinion, we’ve been meaning to post the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling in Braden’s Folly, LLC v. City of Folly Beach, No. 2022-000020 (Apr. 5, 2023) for a while. Something else always intervened, but it remains a decision worth reviewing.
The city adopted an ordinance…
CAFED: Just Because The Govt Seized Property As Evidence Doesn’t Mean It Can Keep It Without Compensation
Here’s the latest in an issue we’ve been following.
Let’s say the government thinks you have committed a crime (or someone else has). To investigate, it seizes property as evidence or potential evidence. But after things wrap up and it no longer needs the property as evidence, the government doesn’t return it to its owner.
Indiana SCT: We’re Not Going To Decide Whether Indiana’s Takings Tests Should Be The Same As Federal Tests (But We’d Like To In A Future Case)
In this Order the Indiana Supreme Court declines to take up the question of when property is taken by regulation. We post it here to note the statement of Justice Slaughter, who agreed that this case isn’t the right vehicle to examine whether Indiana law should adopt a takings test different than the federal…
Nectow Is Meaningless Because It “relies on pre-Lochner administrative review jurisprudence”
One from the Louisiana Court of Appeal, 3000-3022 St. Claude Avenue, LLC v. City of New Orleans, No. 2022-CA-0813 (June 22, 2023) demonstrating that the standard of judicial review for zoning matters (rational basis) is pretty powerful.
The owner wanted to develop its New Orleans property, but first needed a zoning amendment from residential…
CA6: We Haven’t Already Said Individual Govt Officials Can Be Liable For Takings, So They’re Immune
In Sterling Hotels,LLC v. McKay, No. 22-1345 (June 22, 2023) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit considered whether a hotel could sue a state elevator inspector who barred the hotel from operating its elevators for reasons the state’s Elevator Safety Board had not approved. As a result, the hotel couldn’t rent…
Sad Birthday Wishes To Penn Central – Some Things Don’t Get Better With Age
Thanks to lawprof Josh Blackman for the reminder that our un-favorite case, Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978), turned 44 today.
Time has not treated the opinion well. Practitioners, judges, and legal scholars across the spectrum have called the three-factor Penn Central test…
New Takings Ripeness Cert Petition (Ours): Knowing The Permissible Uses “to a reasonable degree of certainty” Is All You Need For A Claim To Be Ripe
Here’s the cert petition, filed last week, in a case we’ve posted about. See here (Ninth Circuit arguments) and here (en banc petition).
The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a takings claim because (it held) the claim isn’t ripe. The government hasn’t made up its mind, and just might allow the owners to…
Join Us August 9, 2023: ALI-CLE’s “How Did Property Rights Fare at the Supreme Court? What Happened in the 2022 Term and What’s Next”
On Wednesday, August 9, 2023 at 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), please join us for ALI-CLE’s web program, “How Did Property Rights Fare at the Supreme Court? What Happened in the 2022 Term and What’s Next.”
Here’s the course description:
This has been a blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court term for property law…



