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Archive | Future of the law

August 23, 2016

The Right to a Jury

Professor Gideon Kanner, once again, focused the law profession’s attention to the right to a jury in an eminent domain trial.  In an article published on August 19, 2016, in the Daily Journal, a California legal publication, Professor Kanner wrote, “Our eminent right to a jury….”  In his article, Kanner, one of America’s leading eminent domain scholars, states that the notion that there should be trial by the court and not a jury because “no such jury right existed in England and the colonies in 1791” is a myth.  The… read more

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Posted in Cases of First Impression, Eminent Domain, Future of the law
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April 14, 2016

Rhode Island Supreme Court Rules Eminent Domain Abandonment Right of First Refusal Does Not Pass With The Estate To Heirs

Under New York State Eminent Domain Procedure Law (“EDPL”) § 406, if the condemnor takes property by eminent domain and then abandons the project for which the property was acquired, and the property has not been materially improved, the condemnor may not dispose of the property for private use within ten years of acquisition “without first offering the former fee owner of record at the time of acquisition a right of first refusal to purchase the property at the amount of the fair market value of such property at the… read more

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Posted in Cases of First Impression, Eminent Domain, Future of the law, Recent cases
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November 9, 2015

New York Law Journal: New York’s Exclusive Procedure on “Taking” Needs Amendment

Michael Rikon authored a column in the October 30, 2015, edition of the New York Law Journal titled, “New York’s Exclusive Procedure on ‘Taking’ Needs Amendment.” In his article, Mr. Rikon discusses that, although New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (“EDPL”), which was adopted in 1977, provides far superior protection in comparison to the procedures in other states, the EDPL is still overdue for study and amendment. Mr. Rikon notes that the EDPL is almost forty years old.  It is long in the tooth and in need of revision.  There… read more

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Posted in Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain, Future of the law
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June 29, 2015

Horne v Dept of Agriculture: A Possible Aid to Obtaining Compensation for Trade Fixtures

On Monday June 22, 2015, the United States Supreme Court handed down the long-awaited decision in Horne, et al. v Department of Agriculture. The Court held that the Agriculture Marketing Agreement Act (“AMA”)’s requirement that raisin growers set aside a certain percentage of their crop for the government, free of charge, constituted an unconstitutional taking under the takings clause of the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This case presented a unique set of facts. Under the AMA, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to promulgate “marketing orders” that help… read more

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Posted in Eminent Domain, Future of the law, Personal Property, Recent cases, Trade fixtures, US Supreme Court cases
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September 24, 2014

Time to Curb Developers from Controlling Condemnation Litigation

If you are reading an appellate court decision deciding a condemnor’s appeal from an award your client recovered and the Court quotes Judge Cardozo in New York, O. & W.R. Co. v. Livingston, 238 NY 300 (1924), it’s not good. This is the case where Judge Cardozo wrote that “it is the duty of the state ,in the conduct of the inquest by which the compensation is ascertained, to see that it is just, not merely to the individual whose property is taken, but to the public which is to… read more

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Posted in Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain, Eminent Domain Abuse, Future of the law, New York, Offer & Compensation, Recent cases, Valuation
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