Tag: takings

Posted on Dec 14, 2015 in News & Events

Eminent domain attorneys, appraisers, engineers and other professionals in the field of eminent domain, property rights and land valuation litigation will gather this January to discuss the hot topics, newest cases and emerging issues impacting eminent domain law and those who practice in this area.  The 33rd Annual American Law Institute Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation course is scheduled to take place January 28-30 at the Hotel Van Zandt in Austin, Texas.

Posted on Nov 2, 2015 in Articles

When most people think about eminent domain and the condemnation of private property, they imagine the government acquiring a citizen’s private property and converting it to a public use. While this is often the case, it is not the only way that the government can acquire private property. Governments may claim “non-possessory” rights in private land. Such rights allow the government to either (i) use, or (ii) place restrictions on a landowner’s use of private property.

Posted on Oct 22, 2015 in Articles

In a case that has garnered national attention, the North Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to review a court of appeals decision holding that a state statute effected a taking – and thereby implicated the property owners’ Constitutional rights. It is an interesting case — one that could have significant implications for property owners across the country.

Posted on Feb 17, 2015 in News & Events

In a ceremony February 7, 2015 at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco, OCA recognized Professor David L. Callies, the Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law at the University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law, for his lifetime of scholarship addressing land use, eminent domain, takings law and private property rights.

Posted on May 5, 2014 in News & Events

Last week, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal once again ruled in favor of Coy Koontz, Jr. in the case concerning his late father’s regulatory takings claim against the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Posted on Apr 14, 2014 in News & Events

Today William & Mary Law School and the William & Mary Property Rights Project announced that accomplished property rights lawyer, scholar, and teacher Michael M. Berger will receive the 2014 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize October 30-31, 2014 at the 11th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Posted on Mar 13, 2014 in News & Events

On Monday, March 10, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the landowner in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, No.12-1173 (Mar. 10, 2014), a rails-to-trails takings case. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Robert’s clarified that the government, in this case the U.S. Forest Service, can not redefine commonly understood legal principles relating to real property and simply eliminate the property rights of landowners as a means to achieve its goal of expanding the National Trails System.

Posted on Jan 14, 2014 in News & Events

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court hears argument in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, No. No. 12-1173, a Rails-to-Trails takings case. At the core of the dispute between the landowner and U.S. Forest Service is the meaning of the term railroad “right of way” as used in the 1875 General Railroad Right of Way Act and whether the federal government retained an “implied reversionary interest” in railroad rights of way granted under the Act.

Posted on Nov 21, 2013 in News & Events

The Owners’ Counsel of America (OCA) and National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Legal Center* filed an amici curiae brief in support of the landowner in Brandt v. United States, No. 12-1173 (cert. granted October 1, 2013) urging the United States Supreme Court to reverse a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision which held that the United States retained an implied reversionary interest in railroad rights of way.

Posted on Oct 4, 2013 in News & Events

Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, (12-1173). As our colleague, Robert Thomas, explains this was a “not-entirely-unexpected move” by the Court due to the fact that the Tenth Circuit acknowledged that its ruling created a “circuit split” and the Solicitor General did not oppose the landowner’s petition.