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Yesterday, on behalf of my Owners’ Counsel of America colleagues, I was pleased and honored to present to University of Hawaii School of Law Professor David L. Callies the Crystal Eagle, recognizing his lifetime of property law and property rights scholarship. 

Professor Callies’ present and former students (there are many), his faculty colleagues, the Hawaii

With rare exception, we don’t cover unpublished, nonprecedential decisions. But we’re posting Fuller v. United States, No. 2014-5117 (Mar. 10, 2015), an unpublished opinion from the Federal Circuit, because it reminded us of a presentation by Jim Burling at the recent ALI-CLE Eminent Domain conference, “Novel Takings Theories: Testing the Boundaries of

Check out State ex rel. Sunset Estate Properties, LLC v. Village of Lodi, No. 2013-1856 (Mar. 10, 2015),  a case in which the Ohio Supreme Court held that a local zoning ordinance was unconstitutional on its face.

The Village’s zoning code, adopted in 1987, banned manufactured home (trailer) parks. Of course, the ordinance could

Here’s the amici brief of the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Realtors, the National Association of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, and others in the case we’ve been following out of the federal courts in Florida about a county’s “right of way preservation” ordinance (which is somewhat similar, but perhaps

Railcoming

If you didn’t have a chance to attend last week’s community meeting on the Honolulu rail project and property rights at Farrington High School, we’ve posted the audio clips, which include the big picture, the current status, and a series of frequently asked questions.

A short one from the Florida District Court of Appeals, Florida Dep’t of Transportation v. Mallards Cove, LLP, No. 2D13-181 (Mar. 6, 2015), a regulatory takings case that followed on the heels of a straight condemnation.

The DOT condemned property belonging to Mallards Cove via Florida’s quick take procedure, by which certain agencies may

Weird headline from KITV. No, owners whose property is taken for the rail aren’t “profiting” if they are able to get more for their land than what the condemning agency offered; “just compensation and damages” are required by the constitution, and if they are able to obtain more, in many cases that still leaves them