Posted 10 Mar 2014 in Case Notes
Congress grants a railroad a right-of-way across public land. RailroadROW The federal government then grants the land to a private landowner, who takes the parcel subject to the railroad right-of-way. The railroad later abandons the right-of-way. Does the right-of-way interest revert to the federal government? Or does the parcel owner gain full and unburdened rights to the property? This morning,  in Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, No. 12-1173, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the federal government does not retain an interest in the abandoned right-of-way.  As Chief Justice Roberts explained,

Posted 10 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:SCT pillars Second Circuit Third Circuit

Posted 07 Mar 2014 in Case Notes
The Ninth Circuit has denied the sua sponte call for en banc review in Pacific Shore Properties, LLC v. City of Newport Beach, No. 11-55460, a case that we have written about previously here. NinthCircuitJudge O'Scannlain, joined by Judges Tallman, Callahan, Bea, and Ikuta, filed a dissental, that is, a dissent from the denial of en banc review. It appears to be telegraphing that the Supreme Court should consider the case:

The panel’s opinion in these consolidated cases invents an entirely unprecedented theory of actionable government discrimination: sinister intent in the enactment of facially neutral legislation can generate civil liability without evidence of discriminatory effect. Such unwarranted expansion

Posted 07 Mar 2014 in Tips and Tactics

Don’t ever trust a spellchecker despite how valuable it can be. Many correctly spelled words are not the ones you intended.  If possible, delete common words from the dictionary that are unlikely to be correct in context, such as pubic (public), untied (United). Some spellcheckers will automatically “fix” words the spellchecker identifies as wrong.  One example is tortious (correctly spelled but not in the dictionary) which is automatically changed to “tortuous” by some versions of the Word spellchecker.  Another example is “sua...

Posted 03 Mar 2014 in Case Notes

Last year, this blog discussed three recent courts of appeals decisions involving local-housing regulations aimed at a person's immigration status. This morning, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in two of the cases,  Farmers Branch v. Villas at Parkside and Hazleton v. Lozano. Both decisions had preempted local ordinances. Image courtesy of Flickr by prathap ramamurthy (creative-commons license, no changes made)....

Posted 03 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:Justice Sixth Circuit
  • Rorrer v. City of Stow, No. 13-3272 (Feb. 26, 2014) (reversing grant of summary judgment to City and against plaintiff, a terminated firefighter with a non-work-related injury, on ADA claim; affirming grant of summary judgment for City on First Amendment and ADA retaliation claims).
Seventh Circuit

Posted 24 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:NinthCircuit Third Circuit
  • M.R. v. Ridley School District, No. 12-4137 (Feb. 20, 2014) (finding under Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act that for "stay put" period: (1) school district must reimburse parents for private-school costs even if parents do not file a claim for payment until after a court has ruled for the school; and (2) the parents' right to interim funding extends through the time of judicial appeal.).
Fourth Circuit

Posted 20 Feb 2014 in Roundup

Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. Tom Goldstein. Paul Clement. And this blog's own, Kira Klatchko. This is just a small selection of the remarkable panel of speakers that IMLA and the State and Local Legal Center will feature at the Supreme Court Practice Seminar scheduled for March 4, 2014.  It will be a true "can't miss" event. See the agenda and full list of speakers here.  Register here. And stay for the State and Local Legal Center's 30-year annniversary reception, which you can register for here. Image courtesy of Flickr...

Posted 17 Feb 2014 in Uncategorized
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments: Seventh Circuit Ninth Circuit

Posted 14 Feb 2014 in Tips and Tactics
Legal documents contain many words, often too many, but that’s not all.  Legal documents contain open space or white space between the captions and the text, as well as above, below and on the sides of block quotes, lists and bullets.Gavel  Attorneys focus on the words and sometimes pay no attention to the white space even though it can make significant difference in the readability of the document. Unless you are working under a page limit and the burden of too much to say in too few pages, don’t feel obligated to cram your words into the smallest space possible.
  • Open space separating