Skynet knows we’re in Milwaukee. So it flashes this story on our screen: remember that eminent domain case our of Milwaukee you participated in 16 years ago? (Skynet is scary and has a long memory.) Yes, we do. A just compensation issue. “Undivided fee” rule nonsense. Oh yes, we remember.
Continue Reading Eminent Domain: Owner “Lost its case and lost all of its money”
Happy 442d Birthday To Hugo Grotius, Who Coined The Term “Eminent Domain”
Happy Birthday to Hugo Grotius, author of the treatise “De Jure Belli et Pacis” (1625) — perhaps fittingly books about war and peace — which first used the phrase “eminent domain” to describe the sovereign power to forcibly acquire private property for public use and upon provision of compensation.
Continue Reading Happy 442d Birthday To Hugo Grotius, Who Coined The Term “Eminent Domain”
Virginia Supreme Court Amicus: There’s A Difference Between Constitutional “Damagings” And Severance (Residue) Damages In Takings Just Compensation
Here’s Pacific Legal Foundation’s motion asking the Virginia Supreme Court to allow us to file a brief amicus curiae which urges the court to grant a discretionary appeal and review this Petition for Appeal by a Norfolk, Virginia homeowner who, according to the trial court, suffered a taking but was prevented from presenting all evidence of just compensation, including the “residue damage” required in partial takings by the Virginia Constitution.
Continue Reading Virginia Supreme Court Amicus: There’s A Difference Between Constitutional “Damagings” And Severance (Residue) Damages In Takings Just Compensation
New Article: Bob Grace, “Assessing Change in Market Value of Rural Real Property Post-Wildfire in the Great Plains” (Appraisal Journal)
Check out this recently-published article by colleague Robert (Bob) Grace, MAI, “Assessing Change in Market Value of Rural Real Property Post-Wildfire in the Great Plains” in the latest issue of the Appraisal Journal.
Continue Reading New Article: Bob Grace, “Assessing Change in Market Value of Rural Real Property Post-Wildfire in the Great Plains” (Appraisal Journal)
Lighter Moments In Yesterday’s SCOTUS Takings Arguments
Courtrooms are places for serious business. After all, people’s lives, businesses, property, and past and futures are at stake. It’s right that the court, the lawyers, and the public take what goes on there seriously. But judges and lawyers are also human, so it should surprise no one that moments of levity and humor can creep in.
Continue Reading Lighter Moments In Yesterday’s SCOTUS Takings Arguments
Transcript And Audio From Today’s SCOTUS Takings And Excessive Fine Arguments (Pung v. Isabella County)
Here is the transcript of the oral arguments held earlier today in Pung v. Isabella County. [And before we get further, a disclosure: this case is one of ours as the above courthouse steps photo shows.]
Continue Reading Transcript And Audio From Today’s SCOTUS Takings And Excessive Fine Arguments (Pung v. Isabella County)
Register Now For State Eminent Domain Conferences (California, Texas, Virginia)
Here are a three upcoming state-based eminent domain conferences, brought to you by CLE International: California, Texas, and Virginia.
Continue Reading Register Now For State Eminent Domain Conferences (California, Texas, Virginia)
SD: Closure Of Intersection And Loss Of Access Is Not Compensable Special Injury
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
“The Fifth Amendment does not require an auction; it requires payment of just compensation” – Owner’s Reply In SCOTUS Just Comp/Excessive Fines Case
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
We’re Underway At The 43d American Law Institute Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Conference, Savannah
The view from the podium
That’s right. More than 300 of the nation’s best eminent domain lawyers, judges, appraisers, right-of-way agents, scholars, and other industry professionals are in Savannah for the next two and a half days for what is now known as the American Law Institute (“ALI” alone, no longer with the “-CLE” addition)