OCA Blog

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has dropped its legal efforts to immediately take possession of at least three tracts of land in South Texas that had been earmarked for stretches of the border wall, citing President Joe Biden’s plan to pause construction projects. Ryan Patrick, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said in the court filings the executive order Biden signed on his first day in office on Jan. 20...

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A couple who own mineral rights within the City of Boulder, Colorado are now suing the city over its oil and gas moratorium on the basis that it violates the Fifth Amendment’s rule against taking private property without just compensation. The couple, John and Valorie Wells, are being represented by the Public Trust Institute. The moratorium originates from an ordinance enacted in June 2013 that prohibits the city manager...

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OCA’s New Jersey member and property rights attorney Anthony DellaPelle with the law firm of McKirdy Riskin Olson and Dellapelle out of Morris Township was recently elected as the new Board chairman of the Great Swamp Watershed Association.  First formed in 1981 as a grassroots organization the Association has grown to serve over 2,200 members in some 40 municipalities within New Jersey. The principle mission of GSWA is to...

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Registration is now open for the biggest and best eminent domain and land valuation conference that has taken place annually for nearly 40 years. Given the pandemic it will be held virtually for the first time on January 28th and 29th. For more information about this event and to register click here.

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In a complaint filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon against Oregon’s governor (in her official capacity), the City of Portland, and Multnomah County, Plaintiffs assert that “several provisions of law, including state statutes, executive orders, and municipal ordinances” amount to a per se taking of Plaintiffs’ property. More specifically, Plaintiffs alledge that the combination of these measures significantly impairs Plaintiffs’ rental contracts, thereby requiring...

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In DW Aina Lea Dev., LLC v. State of Hawaii Land Use Comm’n, No. SCCQ-19-156 (Dec. 17, 2020), the unanimous Hawaii Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations governing a regulatory takings claim under the Hawaii Constitution’s “takings or damagings” clause is six years. The case started out in a Hawaii state court, and was removed to the U.S. District Court by the State Land Use Commission. The district...

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In an opinion just released by the Virginia Supreme Court involving OCA members Joshua Baker and Joe Waldo titled Johnson v. City of Suffolk, the court ruled that Virginia oystermen did not present a viable takings claim to obtain compensation when the City of Suffolk and its Sanitation District dumped raw sewage into the Nansemond river and declared a “condemnation zone” (i.e., no oyster harvesting). Specifically, the court concluded that the...

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In recognizing Dwight Merriam for its first annual New England Trailblazers publication last year, Connecticut Law Tribune called the four-decade legal veteran “a major figure in American planning law.” Based in Weatogue, CT, Merriam represents land owners, developers, governments, and individuals in land use matters. The Connecticut Law Tribune says Merriam is “one of just a handful of nationally-recognized true planner-lawyers, fully credentialed in both professions.” It was Merriam’s desire...

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After the Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 831 authorizing utility companies to use existing “easements for the location and use of electric and communications facilities,” OCA’s Virginia member, Joshua Baker, filed suit, asserting that the law amounts to an unconstitutional taking of property rights without compensation and a denial of due process. Mr. Baker seeks a repeal of the legislation as part of the lawsuit. Mr. Baker explains that the property owners...

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Since the beginning of the pandemic we have seen Governors and State Legislatures across the country implement  an array of policies in an attempt to contain the virus and its socioeconomic impacts. Many of these policies effectively broadened the scope of government power while placing a heavy burden on property owners and businesses already struggling during the COVID 19 pandemic.  Jim Burling from Pacific Legal Foundation and Robert Thomas...

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