The key quote from the Illinois Appellate Court’s recent opinion in Robinson v. City of Chicago, No. 1-23-2174 (Mar. 24, 2025), in which a property owner challenged the inclusion of his property in a new Chicago historic preservation district? This seemingly innocuous sentence setting out the standard of review:
The plaintiff acknowledges that his…
Check out the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in Howard v. Macomb County, No. 24-1655 (Mar. 28, 2025).
This is one of those post-Tyler cases asking whether the government satisfies the Fifth Amendment after it has taken someone’s home equity by satisfying the owner’s tax debt and then keeping…
The question in today’s case is an old one: can you own wild animals?
In Texas Parks & Wildlife Dep’t v. RW Trophy Ranch, Ltd., No. 15-24-00112-CV (Apr. 10, 2025), the Texas Court of Appeals said no. At least not when that wild animal is a white-tailed deer.
Here are the facts. Generally,…
Even if the world were open today, the doors to most Hawaii state, county, and city offices would still be locked. Because Friday, April 18, 2025 is the day that Hawaii celebrates Good Friday.
Yes, Good Friday is an an official state-sanctioned holiday in the 808 area code, so we’re reposting our annual recounting…
Here’s the latest cert petition from the desk of Michael Berger, a property rights case with an equal protection element.
Demarest wanted to subdivide. Not that big a deal, right? Well, apparently it was. The Petition alleges that the Town had a burr under its saddle about the guy for a while, going back…
Check out the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s recent opinion in Knellinger v. Young, No. 23-1018 (Apr. 11, 2025).
It’s worth reading because the court doesn’t fall into the common trap of concluding that although an owner need not exhaust administrative remedies before asserting a takings claim, he nonetheless doesn’t have…
These days, when we have cases where there’s tinkering with the terms of rental agreements, we most often see local governments using their police power to force property owners to rent their properties on a long-term (more than 30 days) basis.
But in Bigelow Arizona TX-344, LP v. Town of Addison, No. 05-23-00642-CV (Apr.…
Here’s the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s opinion in United Water Conservation District v. United States, No. 23-1602 (Apr. 2, 2025), which gets a bit metaphysical.
The District is responsible for a dam and canal that diverts water from the Santa Clara River in southern California. Under the authority of…
We’re not even going to pretend we know what’s going on that spurred the Supreme Court of India to issue this ruling in Delhi Ag. Marketing Bd. v. Devi (Dead), No. 10757 (Mar. 20, 2025), either in the opinion itself, or especially behind the scenes.
But any judicial opinion that starts off like this…
A short one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The caption of WBI Energy Transmission, Inc. v. 189.9 rods, No. 24-1693 (Mar. 24, 2025), should tell you that this is a private-delegation federal taking, and indeed it is. Another Natural Gas Act taking by a private pipeline company.
After WBI…
