Welcome to the Future!
The Court: South Dakota Supreme Court
What issue was the court trying to address: Whether all water was accessible to the public if it could be reached without trespassing on private land?
What did the Court say?
State: Oklahoma
The Stand Your Ground By Killing Drones Bill Goal: Liability Immunity for OKlahomans who damage drones that veer onto their property
Fox News | Oklahoma lawmaker wants to protect people who destroy drones flying on their property
The Case: Murr v. Wisconsin
The oral arguments: March 20, 2017
The eminent domain issue: Property owners wanted to sell some land. The city and state said No, the property doesn’t meet requirements for stand alone sale because of waterway regulations.
How’s the case is shaping up? CALIFORNIA, HAWAII, ILLINOIS, MAINE, MASSACHUSETTS, MINNESOTA, OREGON, VERMONT, AND WASHINGTON are siding with Wisconsin. While NEVADA, ALASKA, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS, KANSAS, OKLAHOMA, SOUTH CAROLINA, WEST VIRGINIA,…
Where: West Virginia
The eminent domain project: A gas pipeline
The religion owned land: Hare Krishna community
The 1st amendment argument: “infringement on its freedom of religion rights and “seeks to take a non-metaphorical bulldozer through the Vrindaban Parties’ property, and in turn, through their most sincerely held holy sites.”
The property to be taken: 50-foot-wide right of way about 3,000 feet long
The Offer: $7,000
Stay Tuned.
The State: Pennsylvania
The eminent domain prohibition: no eminent domain for private enterprise, even if there is a public use
The pipeline project: An interstate liquid natural gas pipeline is subject to federal law that allows for eminent domain even when state law prohibits it
Penn Live | Second Sunoco pipeline possible in Cumberland County, landowner continues fight
The Company: Texas Central Rail
The lawsuits: 12+ lawsuits concerning eminent domain, and specifically pre-condemnation access to the privately held land
The strategic advantage of withdrawing the laawsuits: amicable negotiations
The trend being emulated: Private companies promoting negotiations without eminent domain
Dallas Morning News | Bullet Train Developer Drops Lawsuits against Landowners (References the Schwertner bills, SB 626-629)
Legal experts at Stanford say which easement would offer property owners protections from fracking:a conservation easement which they’ve named a mineral estate conservation easement (MECE)
What’s not needed for a conservation easement: government regulation
The property value impact of a MECE: the property value is diminished but offset by a tax write-off
Are MECEs permitted in Texas? Yes
Standford News | New analysis suggests ways for landowners to limit fracking and mineral extraction…
The location: Prince George’s County, MD
The HOA requirement: identical $500 monogrammed mailboxes in a community of $1 million homes
The court found: the mailbox rule was a no-no and a slipper slope (against property rights)
The legal fees home owners to win: $33,000 and 7 years
Are mailbox mandates the new political signs, flag poles et.al?
Washington Post | In a community of million-dollar homes, a fight over a $500 mailbox ends in court
Texas Agriculture Law Blog | Texas A&M Agrilife | Texas Supreme Court Issues…
Is checking the box enough for the courts to say yes, pipeline, you have eminent domain? NO.
What do pipelines have to show in court? That there is a public use by meeting this standard:
Did Denbury meet the new standard? Yes, by showing its existing contract with another entity to transport…