You know the drill: DOT takes property and pays compensation for that as part of the project. But the project also resulted in elimination of what was the “shortest indirect access route” to the subject property from the public road, for which the DOT did not pay compensation. Question: is the owner who loses such access entitled to compensation?
Continue Reading SD: Closure Of Intersection And Loss Of Access Is Not Compensable Special Injury

Check out this cert petition filed yesterday. It’s from our shop, so we’re not going to be commenting much. The issue is one that the Supreme Court has expressed an interest in, but the last time it was before the Court a few years ago, the Justices decided to wait for the next case. Well, here’s the next case.
Continue Reading New Cert Petition: Do Indian Tribes Have Greater Sovereign Immunity Than Other Governments?

Here’s the Reply Brief in a case we’ve been following (naturally, because it is one of ours).

This is the case where the Court is reviewing the question of the amount of just compensation the county is obligated to provide, if any, for seizing the title to, and then auctioning off Pung’s property to satisfy his debt for unpaid property taxes. The county asserts Pung is entitled to only the proceeds, if any, from the auction (no matter what). Pung asserts he is entitled to just compensation, and that the lower court erroneously presumed that the auction proceeds met that standard.
Continue Reading “The Fifth Amendment does not require an auction; it requires payment of just compensation” – Owner’s Reply In SCOTUS Just Comp/Excessive Fines Case

Today’s the day, 193 years ago, when — a mere 5 days after oral arguments — the U.S. Supreme Court issued its (in)famous opinion in Barron ex rel. Tiernan v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 32 U.S. 243 (1833).

Generations of law students study this decision in their Con Law classes, and it is mostly known as the case in which the Court held that the Bill of Rights limits only the federal government and does not limit the power of states. For the latter, one must look to state constitutions.…

Continue Reading (Unhappy) 193d Birthday To Barron v. Baltimore, SCOTUS’s First Takings Case

We’re spending the day at the alma mater, talking alongside some of the luminaries in the field (lawprofs Thomas Mitchell, Henry Smith, John Inafranca, Thomas Merrill, and Pamela Sameulson, among others) about our favorite topics: dirt law and property rights. This is the “Future of Property Rights” Conference that we mentioned not long ago at the University of Hawaii Law School. …
Continue Reading 2026 Future of Property Law Conference, University of Hawaii Law School

Be sure to check out the North Carolina Court of Appeals’ recent opinion in LDI Shallotte 197 Holdings, LLC v. North Carolina, No. COA24-443 (Jan. 21, 2026), where the court held the plaintiff’s allegation that a two-year delay in the State issuing a permit adequately pleaded a temporary taking claim. The court reversed the dismissal of the complaint. …
Continue Reading NC App: Two-Year Permit Delay Could Be A Temporary Taking

Check it out, an in-progress piece from lawprof Molly Brady, “Property v. Guns: The Level-of-Generality Problem in Wolford.”

This delves into the issue we posted about last week, the Second Amendment and the right to exclude, an issue argued recently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Continue Reading New Article (Lawprof Molly Brady): “Property v. Guns: The Level-of-Generality Problem in Wolford”

Check out the transcript of the recent Supreme Court oral arguments in Wolford v. Lopez.

That’s the case challenging the Hawaii statute barring individuals from carrying concealed firearms unless the owner of the premises affirmative consents as a violation of the Second Amendment.

Recall that the Supreme Court has already held that you have…