Author Archive | Josh Rikon

Oneida IDA has authority to acquire property for a parking lot

The New York State Court of Appeals just reversed an order of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, that rejected Oneida County Industrial Development Agency’s determination to acquire property by eminent domain.  The OCIDA sought to acquire property for a parking facility that would satisfy the need for parking created by a nearby medical office building. The Fourth Department decided that OCIDA lacked the authority to acquire the subject property because the acquisition was necessary for a larger hospital and healthcare facility project and not for… read more

Posted in Challenges to Condemnation, Challenges to Determination and Findings, Challenging condemnation, Contesting a Taking, EDPL 207, EDPL Article 2, EDPL Sec. 207
Read more > 0

Damage resulting from a police action is not a taking

A takings claim was recently denied by the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit in Lech v Jackson, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 32393 [10th Cir Oct. 29, 2019, No. 18-1051]. The claim was made following the destruction of a house resulting from a high-stakes police action to apprehend a criminal suspect who attempted to evade capture by hiding out in a home. The court wrote that where the state acts pursuant to its police power, its actions do not constitute a taking for the purpose of the Taking Clause… read more

Posted in Takings Clause
Read more > 0

The doctrine of prior public use prevents a taking.

The doctrine of prior public use prevents a taking in Matter of City of NY  v Yonkers Indus. Dev. Agency, __AD3d__, 2019 NY Slip Op 02087 [2019]. The City of Yonkers sought to acquire property located in Yonkers that was owned by the City of New York and used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as a bus depot. The City of Yonkers sought to return the underutilized parcel to productive use in connection with an urban renewal plan. The Appellate Division, Second Department held the taking of the subject parcel… read more

Posted in Challenges to Determination and Findings, Challenging condemnation, Condemnation of Government Property, EDPL 207, EDPL Article 2, Eminent Domain
Read more > 0

Is the acquisition of private property for affordable housing a public use?

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to acquire privately owned residential buildings and convert them into affordable housing in an effort to reduce the City’s homeless problem. The City is currently paying property owners to house homeless people in apartments in the buildings that the City wants to acquire. The City’s plan is to acquire the buildings and transfer them to nonprofit companies that will convert all of the apartments in the buildings into affordable units. The homeless people will stay in the affordable units. If the… read more

Posted in Condemnation, Eminent Domain, Public Purpose
Read more > 0

The Supreme Court rejects a property owner’s regulatory taking claim

The Supreme Court of the United Sates rejected a property owner’s regulatory taking claim in Murr v Wisconsin, 582 U.S. ____ [2017]. The claim alleged that a Wisconsin law deprived the owner of all or practically all of the use of one of two adjacent lots because the lot could not be sold or developed separately under the Wisconsin law. The Court applied a multi-part test to identify the relevant parcel for the regulatory taking inquiry. It concluded that the two lots should be evaluated as a single parcel, and… read more

Posted in Inverse Condemnation, Recent cases
Read more > 0