Category: OCA Blog

In honor of lawyer Toby Prince Brigham’s legacy of professionalism and achievement, in 2021 OCA established the Toby Prince Brigham OCA Scholarship to pay for all expenses of a second or third year law student to attend the ALI-CLE Eminent Domain conference and associated OCA events. Next year’s conference will be held from February 1-3 in New Orleans, La. This unique scholarship affords the student the opportunity to learn...

Sharing is caring!

Owners’ Counsel of America is pleased to announce that OCA Honorary Member Michael Berger, Senior Counsel with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, will be honored with the receipt of the Jefferson B. Fordham Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the American Bar Association (ABA) at its’ 2023 ABA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado on Friday, August 4, 2023. As one of the top land use and condemnation...

Sharing is caring!

Join OCA Member and Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer Robert Thomas on August 9th as he moderates a podcast on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 term and the three major property cases decided in favor of property ownership: Tyler v. Hennepin County (government’s keeping the excess value when seizing and selling a home to satisfy a property tax debt is a taking), Wilkins v. United States (is the federal Quiet...

Sharing is caring!

Owners’ Counsel of America, along with four other national property rights groups recently filed an Amicus Brief challenging the U.S. government’s request to revisit a property owners’ takings claim based on the Trails Act. The groups’ brief noted that several of the court’s rulings dating back two decades established a clear precedent on the matter which the government was clearly seeking to overturn. Established precedent holds that the Trails Act gives rise...

Sharing is caring!

A North Carolina jury awarded a property owner $5,084,000 earlier this week for the taking of his partially redeveloped hotel. Amar Patel was represented by the Cranfill Sumner LLP attorneys George Autry and Jeremy Hopkins, who are also members of Owners’ Counsel of America. The trial lasted six days with the jury ultimately deliberating for approximately 50 minutes. The department initially offered Mr. Patel $244,825 for the partial taking...

Sharing is caring!

Geraldine Tyler, age 94, owed Hennepin County $2,300 in unpaid property taxes on her Minnesota condominium. When that small amount ultimately generated $12,700 in fees, the County seized her condo and sold it to pay the taxes and fees. By the time the condo was sold for $40,000, Tyler’s total debt came to $15,000. But the county did not return the excess $25,000 to Tyler. Instead, it pocketed the...

Sharing is caring!

In his recent article written for the New York Law Journal and entitled ‘Urban Renewal, An Assault on Black Neighborhoods,” OCA member Mike Rikon speaks of  how interstate highways, many of which were built to serve white suburban commuters, “were shoved through black neighborhoods, causing surrounding blight and pollution.” Mr. Rikon says these actions were fueled by the Federal Housing Act of 1949, which authorized cities to use eminent...

Sharing is caring!

OCA’s Iowa Member, Dan Manning, is now representing several property owners in Cedar Rapids who are losing their homes because of past floods and fears about future flooding in their neighborhood near the riverfront area. Calling the takings “above and beyond” the usual scenario, Dan Manning explained the difficulty his clients faced in finding replacement property. “These are their homes, they’ve been there and they’re very unique in their...

Sharing is caring!

At Owners’ Counsel of America’s Annual Dinner in Austin, TX, the Crystal Eagle was awarded jointly to two extraordinary women. Sonia Eaddy is a homeowner and community activist, and Nicole King is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County. The award was given in recognition of their tireless efforts to save the historic black neighborhood of Poppleton, an area in west Baltimore that has been...

Sharing is caring!

Owners’ Counsel of America is pleased to announce the selection of two new Primary Members. Derrick Braaten from North Dakota is the owner of Braaten Law Firm and Kim Ellis Ritchie from Oklahoma is the owner and founder of Ritchie, Rock & Atwood. Both men practice in the areas of business, agricultural, and real estate law, with a heavy emphasis on eminent domain cases, predominantly (if not exclusively) on...

Sharing is caring!