Devillier v. Texas is largely about a procedural nuance, but the pictures contain a message for people in right of way that matters even if the procedural nuance involved doesn't change much day to day. The eponymous Mr. DeVillier along with more than a hundred other parties to this U.S. Supreme Court Case own property [...]
The first paragraph in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 5994 (2nd Cir. 2024), may have gotten some takings mavens excited about pretextual takings, when the court stated The Defendant Town of Southold ("Southold" or the "Town") authorized the creation of a park on a parcel to be taken by eminent domain [...]
The arrival of spring heralds the end of the regular session for Virginia’s legislature. While the General Assembly will return for a veto session in a few weeks (and may be forced to return for a special session if budget issues are not ironed out), the end of the regular session is a good opportunity [...]
We just came back from a meeting of the International Governing Council of the International Right of Way Association in New Orleans, so it seems appropriate to post about a recent case out of New Orleans, involving everyone’s favorite delicious New Orleans bite to eat, oysters. The United States Court of Federal Claims recently handed [...]
Expert witness testimony is a cornerstone of eminent domain litigation, and the key aspect to eminent domain trial work is expert witness preparation. Even the best of experts will not fare well at trial if not sufficiently prepared. And as we all know, being familiar with an appraisal assignment—including methodology and conclusions of value—will not [...]
Anyone who testifies regularly as an expert witness, will be expected to, or is responsible for obtaining expert reports that may be used in litigation, should know what is expected as far as the quality of expert reports in the jurisdiction in which they are working in order to avoid having reports excluded. In the [...]
Wetlands are a particularly important and fragile ecological resource. In recognition of that, the federal government has long interpreted the Clean Water Act broadly to protect not only wetlands that are directly connected to traditional waterways but also those more remote wetlands that have some connection to such waterways. In Sackett v. EPA, the Supreme [...]
In preparing to speak at the recent VDOT consultant's conference, my law partner Dave Arnold and I put together an outline of some tips and techniques for succeeding as an expert witness, based on our years of experience handling experts in right-of-way matters. We previously posted Part I of this rather deep dive [...]
In preparing to speak at the recent VDOT consultant's conference, my law partner Dave Arnold and I put together an outline of some tips and techniques for succeeding as an expert witness, based on our years of experience handling experts in right-of-way matters. We thought this one might also be of interest to [...]
[This blog post is based on an interview of Mayor Stephen Adler from Episode 60 of the Infrastructure Junkies podcast. For a full replay of the recording, listen here. Those familiar with me in the eminent domain/ right-of-way industry know that my cynicism towards many landowner attorneys runs deep and wide. We who represent condemning [...]