WI Court of Appeals on the Parcel Rule and Just v. Marinette County

Posted: December 26, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on WI Court of Appeals on the Parcel Rule and Just v. Marinette County

In Murr v. State of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals has offered an instructive decision on how the parcel-as-a-whole rule applies to two contiguous, legally subdivided lots. Applying the traditional parcel-as-whole-rule in this context, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed a circuit court decision rejecting the owners’ claim that they suffered a taking as a result of a restriction on their ability to develop the (combined) lots. The decision also represents an interesting application of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Just v. Marinette County, 201 N.W.2d 761 (1972). Read the rest of this entry »

Fires and Takings in Alaska

Posted: December 5, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Fires and Takings in Alaska

The Alaska Supreme Court issued a troubling decision on November 28, 2014, in Brewer v State, reversing a trial court ruling absolving the State of liability under the Alaska Takings Clause for property damage caused by State firefighters in a successful effort to protect the plaintiffs’ properties from being consumed by wildfire.  In the summer of 2009, a major fire engulfed hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland south of Fairbanks.  In order to protect the plaintiffs’ structures from the approaching fire, firefighters lit a “backfire” on plaintiffs’ land in order to burn away combustible vegetation and deprive the oncoming fire of fuel.  The tactic worked, because the fire passed through the plaintiffs’ subdivision without destroying the plaintiffs’ buildings. Read the rest of this entry »