Real Estate & Property Law

Eminent Domain Round Up

Posted on May 16, 2008
A couple of interesting eminent domain-related items appeared on my screen today: Related to my earlier post on The Euclidization of Public Use - A Dose of Reality for the Kelo Majority, comes a report "Plans Stall In Fort Trumbull"...

Water Law Seminar Links and Materials

Posted on May 15, 2008
To all who attended today's Integrating Water Law and Land Use Planning seminar, thank you. Here are links to the cases and statutes I discussed: In re Water Use Permit Applications (Waiahole), 94 Haw. 97, 9 P.3d 409 (2000) (the...

9th Circuit: Substantive Due Process in Land Use Cases (Armendariz is Still Dead)

Posted on May 15, 2008
Thanks to David Breemer at Pacific Legal Foundation for calling our attention to this recent Ninth Circuit case. In North Pacifica, LLC v. City of Pacifica, No. 05-16069 (May 13, 2008), a northern California landowner claimed the city's delays in...

I Just Saved A Ton Of Money On My Eminent Domain Insurance

Posted on May 14, 2008
Thanks to Dwight Merriam for forwarding this item, a story that an insurance underwriter is planning to offer -- get this -- eminent domain insurance: For less than $300 per year, the policy provides up to $200,000 loss of market...

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Upcoming Water Law Seminar

Posted on May 13, 2008
There's still time to sign up for the "Integrating Water Law and Land Use Planning in Hawaii," to be held on May 14, 2008. I'm on the faculty, leading a session on "Water Rights, Property Rights and the Law of...

Two Big Island Planning Commissions?

Posted on May 07, 2008
Following up on this post. West Hawaii Times is reporting (free registration may be required) the County of Hawaii is one step away from putting to voters the question of whether to have two Planning Commissions. The County Council's Planning...

Opening Brief Filed in Ninth Circuit Maui Vacation Rental Appeal

Posted on May 06, 2008
Today we filed the Opening_Brief (250kb pdf) in Maui Vacation Rental Association, Inc. v. County of Maui, No. 08-15251, the Ninth Circuit appeal from the Hawaii district court's dismissal of MVRA's complaint which sought to declare Maui's shut down of...

Land Use Round Up

Posted on May 02, 2008
Some interesting items, worth reading: According to this story, the preferred developer of the New London, Connecticut project that gave us Kelo apparently is on the ropes. Professor Gideon Kanner's take on the latest misstep is here. From Dean Patty...

Cert Petition in Ceded Lands Case

Posted on April 30, 2008
In a very short (17 page) petition, the State of Hawaii has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court regarding "ceded lands." The petition argues that by basing its decision in Office of...

New Article Published: "Because They Can: Judicially Excising the People from the Definition of 'County' in the Hawaii Constitution"

Posted on April 30, 2008
The ABA Section on State & Local Government has published my article "Because They Can: Judicially Excising the People from the Definition of ?County? in the Hawaii Constitution" in the State & Local Government Law News (Spring 2008). The article...

The Euclidization of Public Use - A Dose of Reality For the Kelo Majority

Posted on April 28, 2008
In Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), the majority opinion authored by Justice Stevens, framed the issue presented in terms of the validity of "the development plan," and not whether the particular takings at issue were...

Kauai Springs Zoning Permit Appeal

Posted on April 26, 2008
Today we filed the Opening Brief in Kauai Springs' appeal from the January 2007 decision by the Kauai Planning Commission to deny three zoning permits to the small, Kauai-family-owned water bottling company. The case is an appeal from an agency...

County Motion in Maui Affordable Housing Exaction Case

Posted on April 22, 2008
The County of Maui has filed a motion for summary judgment in the federal court challenge to the County's affordable housing exaction ordinance. The memorandum in support of the motion is posted here (215k pdf). The Maui ordinance, enacted last...

Upcoming Land Use and Eminent Domain Seminars

Posted on April 22, 2008
Head's up to two upcoming seminars worth attending: "Planning Zoning and Eminent Domain" (May 8-9, 2008), and "Planning and Zoning 101" (May 7, 2008), both of which will be put on by the Center for American and International Law, in...

New Federal Court Land Use Case Against County of Maui

Posted on April 19, 2008
A Lahaina business owner has sued the County of Maui in federal court in Honolulu. In Goo v. County of Maui, CV 08-00172 DAE (filed Apr. 17, 2008), the Complaint alleges the County and Planning Department officials drove the International...

Book Review: Bulldozed - "Kelo," Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land

Posted on April 18, 2008
"If you can fight blight, why not create beauty? If not beauty, why not bounty?" With that phrase, author Carla T. Main, in Bulldozed: "Kelo," Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land, accurately and succinctly sums up the devolution...

Cert Petition in Ninth Circuit Case on Reserved Powers, Contracts Clause in Repeal of Eminent Domain Ordinance (Matsuda)

Posted on April 18, 2008
The City and County of Honolulu has filed a petition for writ of certiorari in Matsuda v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 06-15337 (9th Cir. Jan. 14, 2008), asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. We don't...

Blighting Property by Inequitable Precondemnation Activities

Posted on April 13, 2008
Thanks to No Land Grab for informing us of the latest eminent domain action from New York City, this time with an interesting twist. In Willets Point Industry and Realty Ass'n v. City of New York, No. 08-1453 (E.D.N.Y. filed...

Condemnation Blight and Clouding Use

Posted on April 13, 2008
On the topic of the Willets Point case, inequitable precondemnation activities, and condemnation blight, thanks to Professor Gideon Kanner for reminding us of his seminal article on the subject, Condemnation Blight: Just How Just Is Just Compensation? 48 Notre Dame...

The View From the Office (a few minutes ago)

Posted on April 12, 2008
Apropos of nothing relating to the usual topics of this blog is this view from my office window a few minutes ago. But I thought I would share it anyway.

Opening Brief in Kona Eminent Domain Appeals: Damages for Failed Condemnations, Abatement, and Pretext

Posted on April 10, 2008
We filed today the Opening Brief today in County of Hawaii v. Richards, No. 28882, the consolidated appeal from two eminent domain lawsuits filed by the County in 2000 and 2005. I won't go into detail about the case and...

Oral Arguments in ICA Appeal on Kuilima EIS (mp3)

Posted on April 09, 2008
The recording of today's oral arguments in Unite Here! Local 5 v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 28603 has been posted here. (Be prepared -- it's a 93mb file). The briefs of the parties are posted here. A report...

Seminar Links

Posted on April 04, 2008
Links from the April 3 Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use seminar here.

Merits Briefs in Upcoming ICA Appeal on Kuilima Resort Environmental Impact Statement

Posted on April 04, 2008
On April 9, 2008, the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals will be hearing oral arguments in Unite Here! Local 5 v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 28603, the appeal involving the question of whether the City should have required...

Cases and Links From Today's Seminar

Posted on April 03, 2008
To all those who attended today's seminar, thank you. Here are the links to the cases I mentioned. From the morning session on Case Law Update: Wilkie - Government Gone Wild! - no comprehensive federal remedy for federal interference with...

Discretion Wins Out Over Valor in Half Moon Bay Inverse Condemnation Case

Posted on April 02, 2008
Remember that whopping $36.8 million inverse condemnation judgment against the City of Half Moon Bay, California by the U.S. District Court back in November 2007? The city said at the time it was going to appeal, and it hired some...

Land Use Seminar This Week

Posted on April 01, 2008
There's still time to sign up for the "Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law" seminar, to be held Thursday, April 4, 2008, in Honolulu. I will be leading sessions on Current Case Law and Legislative Update, and Appealing...

Cert Petition in Goldstein v. Pataki: How to Plead Kelo Pretext

Posted on April 01, 2008
The homeowners threatened with eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in Goldstein v. Pataki, 516 F.3d 50 (2d Cir. 2008). The petition points out the schizophrenic...

The First Amendment, the Ninth Circuit, and the Ten Commandments

Posted on March 26, 2008
While not exactly on the usual topics of this blog, the Ninth Circuit's opinion in Card v. City of Everett, No. 05-35996 (Mar. 26, 2008) is worth a read. It involves the question of whether the placement of a reproduction...

Epstein on the Didden Case --

Posted on March 24, 2008
In Forbes, law prof Richard Epstein writes "The Taking of Port Chester" about the Didden v. Village of Port Chester case. The facts of Didden are particularly egregious -- in return for a private developer's promise to withhold an exercise...

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