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Robert H. Thomas is a director with Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu, Hawaii and Berkeley, California.  He specializes in property and land use issues including eminent domain, regulatory takings, water rights, and voting rights.  He has tried cases and appeals in Hawaii, California, and the federal courts, including the Court of Federal Claims.

Mr. Thomas serves as the Chair of the Condemnation Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section on State & Local Government Law.  He is also the Managing Attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation's Hawaii Center, a public interest legal foundation dedicated to defending private property rights and individual freedom. 

Robert received his LLM, with honors from Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his JD from the University of Hawaii where he was an editor of the Law Review.  He has also taught law at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, and was an exam grader and screener for the California Committee of Bar Examiners.

Mr. Thomas filed a brief amicus curiae in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent decision on eminent domain and in Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005), the Court's landmark decision on regulatory takings.   He also filed a brief amicus curiae on behalf of the Owners' Counsel of America in a property rights case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection.

His most recent publications include The Ninth Circuit Rediscovers Substantive Due Process in Land Use Cases, 31 Zoning & Planning Law Report 11, (Dec. 2008), Condemnation Basics: A Deskbook for the General Practitioner (Chapters on Pretrial Litigation and Flooding, Erosion & Trespass) (ABA Section on State & Local Gov't. forthcoming 2009), the Hawaii Chapter in Law and Procedure of Eminent Domain in the 50 States (ABA Section on Litigation, Committee on Condemnation, Zoning & Land Use, July 2007), and Arrow of Time: Vested Rights, Zoning Estoppel and Development Agreements in Hawaii, 27 U. Haw. L. Rev. 17 (Feb. 2006).  He is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" in the field of eminent domain and condemnation law.

He is also a frequent speaker on land use and eminent domain issues in Hawaii and nationwide. For a list of upcoming events and speaking engagements, click here.

Robert regularly publishes scholarly and practical articles in his area of practice. For a complete list, click here .

His blog on land use, property, and takings law, inversecondemnation.com, is one of the most widely-read blogs on those subjects.

Education:

Columbia University School of Law
     LLM, with Honors (1995) (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar)

University of Hawaii School of Law
     JD (1987) (Law Review)
     Law Review: Executive Editor

University of Santa Clara
     BS (Commerce) (1984)

Community and Professional Activities:

Member:

     ABA State and Local Government Section - Chair, Condemnation Law Committee

     ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers

     ABA Litigation Section (Hawaii Editor, Case Notes - Committee on Condemnation, Zoning & Land Use) 

     State Bar of California

     Hawaii State Bar Association

Bar Admissions:

     Hawaii

     California

     U.S. Supreme Court

     U.S. Court of Appeals (Ninth and Federal Circuits)

     U.S. District Court (Hawaii and Northern District of California)

     U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Tax Court

Representative Cases: 

(For a complete list of reported cases in which Mr. Thomas has been involved, click here.)

Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., U.S. Supreme Court No. 07-1239
(represented nine retired Admirals and service organizations in U.S. Supreme Court
amicus brief supporting the Navy’s use of sonar in training exercises against
environmental challenge).

Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, U.S. Supreme Court No. 07-1372 (participated as
amicus in U.S. Supreme Court review of Office of Hawaiian Affairs v. Housing and
Community Dev. Corp. of Hawaii, 117 Haw. 174, 177 P.3d 884 (2008)).

County of Kauai ex rel. Nakazawa v. Baptiste, 115 Haw. 15, 165 P.3d 916 (2007)
(represented homeowners in appeal of government challenge to validity of county charter
capping real property taxes for resident homeowners).

Maunalua Beach Ohana 28 v. State of Hawaii (appeal pending in the Hawaii
Intermediate Court of Appeals) (represent amicus supporting property owners who claim
statute effected a regulatory taking of their shoreline property).

Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) (amicus curiae brief on the “public use”
requirement in eminent domain).

Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005) (amicus curiae brief on the standards
for regulatory takings).

Maui Tomorrow v. State of Hawaii, 110 Haw. 234, 131 P.3d 517 (2006) (represented
Maui farmers in challenge to allocation of fresh water on Maui, and related appeal for
attorneys fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988).

Leslie v. County of Hawaii, 109 Haw. 384, 126 P.3d 1071 (2006) (amicus curiae brief
regarding proper scope of coastal zone regulations).

Alameda Gateway, Ltd. v. United States, 45 Fed. Cl. 757 (1999) (represented property owner in Tucker Act case seeking just compensation for inverse condemnation of submerged and riparian property adjacent to the Oakland Inner Harbor – one of the few cases where a court has upheld an owner’s claim to compensation for taking of navigable waters).

United States v. Alameda Gateway, Ltd., 213 F.3d 1161(9th Cir. 2000) petition for cert. withdrawn due to settlement (Aug. 2000) (companion case to above; represented property owner on appeal in suit brought by Corps of Engineers seeking reimbursement of costs from property owner).

Maunalua Associates, Inc., fka Bedford Properties, Inc. v. City & County of Honolulu, No. 89-3539-11 (Haw., First Cir. 2002) (represented property owner in 15+ year, $100 million land use litigation seeking just compensation for downzoning and regulatory taking of vested development permit).

Boone v. United States, 725 F. Supp. 1509 (D. Haw. 1989) and 743 F. Supp. 1367 (D. Haw. 1989), aff’d, 944 F.2d 1489 (9th Cir. 1991) (trial and appeal protecting private navigable waters under inverse condemnation theory).

Kaiser Hawaii Kai Dev. Co. v. City & County of Honolulu, 70 Haw. 480, 777 P.2d 244 (Haw. 1989) (represented property owner in a case invalidating voter initiative as a means of enacting land use legislation in Hawaii).

Sandy Beach Defense Fund v. City & County of Honolulu, 773 P.2d 250 (Haw. 1989) (defended coastal development permit from due process and equal protection challenges in Hawaii state courts and satellite litigation in Honolulu Zoning Board of Appeals).

Lum Yip Kee, Ltd. v. City & County of Honolulu, 767 P.2d 244 (Haw. 1989) (amicus curiae brief challenging initiative as method of enacting zoning ordinances in Honolulu).