Newsletters

06.24.19

Supreme Court Shortens the Path for Takings Cases

In a case resolving a complex procedural question about the ability of property owners to have access to federal courts for their disputes with local government agencies, the Supreme Court overruled a 34-year-old precedent and held that property owners—like all other Americans—are ...


06.29.17

California Supreme Court Restricts Implied Dedication Rule

Many large private landowners record notices under the provisions of the Civil Code in order to ensure that public use of their property does not morph into an implied dedication of their land to the public.


06.28.17

Murr Decision Makes Takings Law Murkier

The Supreme Court missed an opportunity to bring some clarity to the law of regulatory takings and, instead, made the law more confusing and less protective of the rights of property owners.


09.01.16

Supreme Court Clarifies Valuation Rules on Potential for Future Exactions

The California Supreme Court reexamined the rules for determining the valuation of property taken by eminent domain but subject to potential future dedication exactions.


06.02.16

Supreme Court Allows Challenges to Section 404 Jurisdictional Determinations

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously concluded that property owners who are required to obtain Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permits are entitled to challenge the government’s Jurisdictional Determinations (JD) of the extent of “waters of the United States” on their land when ...


04.28.16

Landmark Discrimination Case: Fair Housing Act Thwarts NIMBYs

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision in favor of the City of Yuma, Arizona, and concluded instead that there was sufficient evidence to present to a jury that the City had rejected the developer's application for an increase in zoning density for reasons of barely disguised ...


06.24.15

The California Raisins Strike Back

In a pro-property rights opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court applies Fifth Amendment “takings” analysis to a federal program that confiscated a farmer’s raisin crop and orders payment of just compensation for the taking of private property.


06.26.13

Supreme Court Limits Land Development Permit Conditions

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management Agency.