Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

Fire Losses And Conflicting Judicial Rulings Over Whether Property Insurers Must Indemnify Insureds And Pay Third-Party Claims - Some Implications For Wildfire Litigation In Texas's Courts, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

Wildfires in Texas have generated two interrelated questions: (1) whether insurers have a duty to indemnify residential and commercial property owners if a wild forest, brush, grass, or prairie fire destroys homeowners' property in Texas, and (2) whether insurers have a duty to pay or settle third-party claims in Texas if a property owner starts a fire on her property, which evolves into a wildfire and destroys a third party's residential or commercial property.

Identifying Values In Land Use Regulation, Adam J. Macleod

Scholarly Articles

The rules governing the lawfulness of land use decisions are a mess. State enabling acts elide distinguishable and plural objectives of the police powers. Courts — especially state courts — generally fail to distinguish between different types of challenges and different types of land use regulatory actions. As a result, courts typically resort to the deferential position that the Supreme Court adopted in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., even where that standard of review is wholly inappropriate.

Meanwhile, the evidence is mounting that local governments often exercise their land use regulatory authority in arbitrary, irrational, and discriminatory …

Suing Courts, Frederic Bloom, Christopher Serkin

Publications

This Article argues for a new and unexpected mechanism of judicial accountability: suing courts. Current models of court accountability focus almost entirely on correcting legal errors. A suit against the court would concentrate on something different--on providing transition relief, by way of legal remedy, to those bearing the heaviest burdens of desirable legal change. These suits may at first appear impossible. But suing courts is conceptually rational and mechanically reasonable, a tool that eases legal transitions while navigating the many hurdles modern doctrine puts in the way. This Article sets out the first complete account of how, where, and why …

The Property Strategy, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

My objective in this Article is to offer a description of property as an institution for organizing the use of resources in society. There are several strategies for deciding how valued things will be used, and by whom. “Might makes right” is one approach: we can let a strongman decide these questions. Bureaucratic governance is another: we can create a hierarchical organization and adopt rules and procedures for allocating resources. Group consensus is a third: questions about resource use can be resolved through meetings and discussion among those most closely involved. The claim advanced here is that property is a …

Godzilla Lives! Or, Nonrecourse Carveouts Run Amok, Marshall E. Tracht

Articles & Chapters

The author of this article discusses two recent cases which deal with unconditional liability on nonrecourse carveouts and spring-ing guaranties. One potential consequence of these decisions: by essentially converting these contingent guaranties to unconditional guaranties, the threat of springing liability disappears and the guaranties cease to have deterrent effects. If the guarantor is li-able whether or not the single purpose entity files for bankruptcy, why not file? The result is likely to be bankruptcy filings and other "misbehavior" by borrowers. Moreover, the analysis used in these cases would put many performing loans into default along with triggering recourse, threatening substantial …

Cutting Municipal Services During Fiscal Crisis: Lessons From The Denial Of Services To Condominium And Homeowner Association Owners, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Inclusionary Housing On A Global Basis, James J. Kelly Jr.

Journal Articles

This is a book review of Inclusionary Housing in International Perspective: Affordable Housing, Social Inclusion, and Land Value Recapture (2010, Nico Calavita and Alan Mallach, eds.). The book offers a comparative look at land-use based approaches to the creation of affordable housing in a broad range of developed countries. A little less than a sixth of the book is dedicated to the U.S., with special attention given to the development on inclusionary programs in California and New Jersey. The editors then devote a chapter each to Canada, England, Ireland, France, Spain and Italy. The penultimate chapter looks at inclusionary practices …