Entries for 'Robert Thomas'

We're starting to appreciate the Chief's "functional" approach. What say we apply that same test to a legislature's statement regarding the "public use" for which it is condemning property?

...the Court's docket entry was updated to reflect consideration of the petition at the Thursday, June 28, 2012 conference....

The trial court had determined the plaintiffs' regulatory takings claims were not ripe because they should have tried to change offending land use regulations which allegedly deprive their property of all economically beneficial uses.

Urbanized (Gary Hustwit 2012), Saturday, June 23, 7:00 p.m., at R&D, 691 Auahi Street, Honolulu....

a person complaining about a vacation rental cannot circumvent the City's enforcement procedures and the administrative appeal process by instituting an original jurisdiction lawsuit....

In re `Iao Ground Water Management Area High-Level Source Water Use Permit Applications and Petition to Amend Interim Instream Flow Standards of Waihe`e River and Waiehu, `Iao, and Waikapu Streams Contested Case Hearing, No. SCAP-30603 ....

case asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court's dismissal of a challenge to the property tax exemptions conferred on lessees of Hawaiian Homesteads....

The court mostly upheld the regulations, but struck down the power of government officials to revoke a permit and modify it....

Perhaps the most interesting parts of the SG's brief are its recitation of Hawaii history (pages 1 - 3), and its noting of "recent and ongoing legal developments" (the State's recent legislation instituting a "process for the indigenous native people of Hawaii to reorganize as a sovereign government").

The Hawaii Supreme Court just concluded oral arguments in Kaleikini v. Yoshioka and it does not look good for the City and the State....

That's the question the Hawaii Supreme Court will consider this Thursday, May 24, 2012, when it hears oral arguments in Kaleikini v. Yoshioka ....

...just issued by the three-judge district court denying the motion for preliminary injunction. More to come....

The only limit on the privilege in the text of the constitution is "the right of the State to regulate such rights."

The lawsuit argues that the Equal Protection Clause guarantees representational equality as well as voting equality....

Hawaii’s 2012 Plan is not just “substantially” different from population, it is grossly deviant.

DW Aina Lea Dev. LLC v. State of Hawaii Land Use Comm'n, No. 11--1-0112K ....

 Thus, even purportedly green activity could be "development" after all, even if it involves a native Hawaiian fishpond....

"Five weeks from now, the Supreme Court is taking up the most important case it's had since Brown vs. Board of Education."

...

HB1707 and SB2089 will require "nonresident" property owners who rent their property for thirty days or less (transient vacation rentals) to use a licensed real estate broker to rent the property, and to employ a property manager to operate it....

The court held that "parents have a constitutional right to discipline children...."

The Commission has now sought "clarification and/or reconsideration," first asking the court for more guidance on the method of "extracting" non-permanent residents from the population base and the procedure for preparing a new plan, and second arguing that the inability to separate resident and nonresident military personnel makes the court's requirement that the Commission do so unconstitutional under the equal protection clause. 

The court concluded the ICA has appellate jurisdiction because the Acting Deputy Director to the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources certified the Water Commission minutes by signing them....

No one exiting the Hawaii Supreme Court courtroom yesterday after oral arguments in the redistricting cases should have had much doubt about what the court was going to do....

On January 3 and 4, 2012, at 1:00 and 7:30 p.m. each day, the Honolulu Academy of Arts Doris Duke Theater is presenting the Hawaii premiere of Battle For Brooklyn, the Academy Award-contending documentary about the Atlantic Yards eminent domain fight....

The ICA relied on County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P'ship, which held that if an eminent domain action is dismissed or otherwise fails, the property owner is entitled to recover the attorneys' fees and costs it incurs in the case....

Today was the day we were to have found out whether the Supreme Court would review Corboy v. Louie....

Who owns the new land created when lava flows over private property and into the sea and hardens into fast land?

At its December 9, 2011 conference, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to review Corboy v. Louie....

...what standards govern the Family Court's evaluation of an application for a civil TRO in light of a parent's fundamental right to discipline his or her children (which includes the right to use reasonable corporal punishment)....

In Opportunity comes ashore, the daily paper reports that among other things, they wanted the world to see Hawaii as a good place to do business....

Governor Abercrombie filed his opposition to the Star-Advertiser's motion for summary judgment, and his own cross-motion for summary judgment in the case in which the Star-Advertiser seeks disclosure of the Judicial Selection Commission list from the Governor

Attempting to "fact check" an opinion is a fool's errand.

There is a better-than-usual chance that the Supreme Court will agree to review the case, since the Ninth Circuit’s decision squarely conflicts with decisions by the California and Texas Supreme Courts....

...motion for summary judgment in the case which seeks disclosure of the JSC list from the Governor....

The Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy (“ICAP”) at the UH Sea Grant College Program has prepared this paper to examine the interactions among climate change, the regulation of shoreline development in Hawai‘i, and Constitutional law regarding unpermitted takings of private property for public benefit

Precluding pre-enforcement judicial review buttresses a regime where EPA has assumed the authority to enjoin development by issuing unreviewable compliance orders. Such a result is repugnant to the core principle in the Due Process Clause that "[n]o person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

In a cert petition filed September 15, five Hawaii taxpayers argue that they have standing to challenge the constitutionality of property tax exemptions conferred on lessees of Hawaiian Homesteads.

Today, we filed the Reply Brief in the case that asks: after Kelo, when is eminent domain pretextual?

...the Honolulu Star-Advertiser filed a Complaint asking the circuit court to order the Governor to publicly release the list of judicial nominees presented to him by the Judicial Selection Commission, now that the Hawaii Senate has consented to the Governor's appointment of Justice McKenna....

Last week the developer and the County of Hawaii filed their joint Brief in Opposition in C & J Coupe Family Limited Partnership v. County of Hawaii....

Here's the latest in a case we've been following. In Bridge Aina Lea, LLC v. State of Hawaii Land Use Comm'n....

On July 14, 2011, we filed a cert petition, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P'ship....

...the Land Use Commission changed the land use boundaries from "urban use to agricultural use while affordable housing was being constructed on the property."

...legal issues that the rail project will involve, include eminent domain, environmental questions, and the relationship with the newly-created Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit (HART), an agency within city government to oversee the project....

When the government chooses a preferred beneficiary before it condemns, the taking looks a lot more like the prohibited "A-to-B" taking that the Court professes to frown upon....

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide a case about whether state laws which require elected officials to recuse themselves from considering matters on which they appear to have conflicts of interest, impermissibly infringe upon the officials' First Amendment rights.

Justice Alito's most "Hawaii-centric" opinion was in Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 129 S. Ct. 1436 (2009), where he authored the opinion for a unanimous Court. In that case, the Court held that the United States held "absolute fee simple" title to Hawaii's ceded lands, and that Congress' 1992 Apology Resolution had no legal effect.

The denial of cert by the U.S. Supreme Court means that until the Hawaii Supreme Court confirms or rules otherwise in a future case, the ICA's rule that "unvested" rights or "contingent future interests" are not property and are subject to uncompensated acquisition by the legislature, is the law.

In the instant appeal, we hold that the County’s asserted public purpose for Condemnation was not a pretext for a primarily private benefit....