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Regulatory Takings and Executive Power to Seize Property
The Arizona Court of Appeals recently held that members of a homeowners’ association are not entitled to severance damages to their residential parcels when common areas are condemned....more
The construction of a bike path ran into a bump in the road when the Mill Creek Metropolitan Park District (Park District) attempted to take land through eminent domain. The Park District is a public entity that is attempting...more
The Arkansas Court of Appeals (“Court of Appeals”) addressed in a February 15th Opinion issues arising out of an inverse condemnation claim. See City of Sherwood v. Clint Bearden, 2023 Ark. App. 67. The inverse...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently ruled in the Puerto Rico bankruptcy case that Fifth Amendment takings claims cannot be discharged or impaired by a bankruptcy plan. As a matter of first impression in...more
Some might argue that challenging the necessity of an appropriation involving a public utility or common carrier is a futile act, given the presumption of the necessity under R.C. 163.09(B)(1)(c). In State ex rel. Bohlen v....more
The Arkansas Court of Appeals (“ACA”) addressed in a February 2nd Opinion an issue arising out of a municipality’s use of statutory condemnation authorities to construct a treated-water transmission line....more
A recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit concerned a nightmare scenario for any property owner. The plaintiffs sought to rebuild their beachfront house after it was destroyed. Originally...more
On June 29, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in PennEast Pipeline Co., LLC v. New Jersey. PennEast presented the question of whether a private company could condemn a pipeline right-of-way across...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a case that will have far-reaching consequences for interstate pipeline projects. The case, PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey, involves a FERC-approved natural gas pipeline...more
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the following three decisions: Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, No. 19-351: In this Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) case, the respondents - heirs of...more
When a property owner commits to developing property in a certain manner, including providing a certain number of parking spaces, and the local government agency enforces the owner’s failure to comply, does the enforcement...more
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, denounced the practice of the secretary of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in issuing tolling orders, which provide FERC with...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) can no longer delay judicial review of its orders under the Natural Gas Act by issuing a tolling order that takes no action on a rehearing request other than granting itself...more
Adding another chapter to the legal controversies that continue to rage over the siting of new gas pipelines, on September 10, 2019 the Third Circuit upheld the State of New Jersey’s sovereign immunity objection to the...more
In an August 2019 decision, the Fourth Department of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled that property owners cannot assert a lawsuit alleging inverse condemnation and other damages...more
In 2012, the City of Somerville, the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA), and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development approved the Union Square Revitalization Plan (the Plan), an urban renewal...more
When entering into a lease agreement, parties rarely contemplate that the property may be subject to a future eminent domain proceeding. As a result, many times the condemnation provision in the lease is given little...more
Goodwill is one of the trickier areas of eminent domain law. When a governmental agency takes private property through the exercise of eminent domain powers, the agency generally must pay the property owner the fair market...more
Like the vast majority of general civil litigation, eminent domain matters usually settle before going to trial. The resolution is typically documented in either a stipulated judgment or a settlement agreement. ...more
Eminent domain cases in Virginia involve, often, a two-stage process by which to finally resolve the acquisition of private property for public use. At the end of trial, a condemnation jury (or commission) issues a report...more
In a recent unpublished Court of Appeal decision, Downs v. City of Redding (October 30, 2018), the Court took up two distinct issues: (a) whether a contractor’s use of property for construction staging constitutes a taking...more
On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit issued a surprising ruling establishing that a municipality must provide individual notice to property owners whose property is located within an area determined...more
As any experienced California eminent domain lawyer knows, there is a unique statutory mechanism that allows parties to bring a legal issues motion to secure a court’s ruling on a litany of issues that impact compensation....more
A New Mexico utility has filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a decision precluding it from condemning land for a power line because the Navajo Nation held an interest in that property. The...more
On Friday afternoon I decided to take a quick look at the advance sheets for any newly decided appellate cases involving eminent domain. My search revealed an unpublished decision that came out yesterday (September 7, 2017)...more