Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

U.S. Conflict Of Laws Involving International Estates And Marital Property: A Critical Analysis Of "Estate Of Charania V. Shulman", Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

A number of states, as well as foreign jurisdictions, impose a community property regime. Under this regime, regardless of the title to property, each spouse is deemed to own a fifty percent interest in assets. When a spouse dies owning property in his own name, the tendency is to treat him as the owner of the asset in full for purposes of the power to dispose of the asset and for transfer tax purposes. However, if the property is community property, then the decedent 's power to dispose of it, and the portion of the property subject to taxation, is …

West Sunset 2050 Trust V. Nationstar Mortgage, L.L.C., 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 47 (Jun. 28, 2018), Shaneka J. Malloyd

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court found that a foreclosure sale is not invalid due to lack of notice where: (1) a homeowners association (HOA) fails to serve the Notice of Default (NOD) to the recorded beneficiary of the deed of trust and (2) that recorded beneficiary’s successor in interest is unable to demonstrate how it was prejudiced or injured by the defective notice to their predecessor in interest. Further, a HOA does not lose standing to foreclose on a property when it enters into a factoring agreement that does not change the relationship between debtor and lender.

Hohfeld And Property, Michael S. Green

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Carrington Mortg. Holdings V. R Ventures, 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 46 (Jun. 14, 2018), Paloma Guerrero

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that application of NRS § 116.3116(8) which states that “[a] judgment or decree in any action brought under this section must include costs and reasonable attorney’s fees for the prevailing party,” refers only to actions brought by a homeowners’ association to enforce its assessment lien and not a quiet title and declaratory judgment action by a third-party purchaser at such a sale.

Things Invisible To See: State Action & Private Property, Joseph William Singer, Isaac Saidel-Goley

Texas A&M Law Review

This Article revisits the state action doctrine, a judicial invention that shields “private” or “non-governmental” discrimination from constitutional scrutiny. Traditionally, this doctrine has applied to discrimination even in places of public accommodation, like restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores. Born of overt racial discrimination, the doctrine has inflicted substantial injustice throughout its inglorious history, and courts have continuously struggled in vain to coherently apply the doctrine. Yet, the United States Supreme Court has not fully insulated “private” or “horizontal” relations among persons from constitutional scrutiny. The cases in which it has applied constitutional norms to non-governmental actors should be celebrated rather …

Charting A New Course In Cuba? Why The Time Is Now To Settle Outstanding American Property Claims, Marco Antonio Dueñas

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The recent warming of relations between the United States and Cuba offered generations of Cubans; Americans; and Cuban Americans renewed hope for normalized relations. One obstacle—satisfactory resolution of property claims—stands in the way; which dates back to the Cuban government’s nationalization of all U.S. assets on the island. The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (the “Helms-Burton Act”) predicates resolution of these decades-old property claims by the Cuban government as an essential condition for the full resumption of economic and diplomatic relations between the two neighbors. Separated by only ninety miles of Caribbean Sea; but more than a …

Montage Marketing, Llc V. Washoe County, 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 3 (May 31, 2018), Jocelyn Murphy

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court held the district court’s order denying a petition for judicial review in a property tax matter concerning unsold condominium units was proper under NRS 361.227(2)(b) and NRS 351.227(5)(c) because neither statutory provision requires a county assessor to value unsold condominiums as a single unit or to apply the discounted cash flow method to determine full cash value.

Placentophagy: A Women's Right To Her Placenta, Amber Goeden

Concordia Law Review

Placentophagy is the consumption of the placenta after childbirth. While not every woman participates in placentophagy, there has been a notable increase of the practice. Many reasons exist in why woman partake in placentophagy. The most notable reasons for the growth, is the claimed increased breast milk production and the potential for reducing the effects of post-partum depression. Even though a woman might choose to partake in placentophagy, she might be met with law, or the lack thereof, that restricts her access to her placenta. Due to the increased requests for the placenta it has highlighted that a woman’s right …

Keep Suing All The Lawyers: Recent Developments In Claims Against Lawyers For Aiding & Abetting A Client’S Breach Of Fiduciary Duty, Katerina P. Lewinbuk

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Lawyers have increasingly become subject to liability under various legal theories, ranging from traditional legal malpractice or negligence liability claims to various third-party actions. Most recently, state and federal courts across the country have recognized attorney liability for aiding and abetting a client’s breach of fiduciary duty. This Article will address the current status of the cause of action for a lawyer’s aiding and abetting her client’s breach of fiduciary duty, explain the commonalities and distinguish nuances as outlined by particular states, examine recent decisions by federal courts that have recognized the cause of action, and culminate in its conclusion …

Takings Clause And Integrated Sustainability Policy And Regulation: The Proportionality Of The Burdens Of Exercising Property Rights And Paying Just Compensation, James E. Holloway, D. Tevis Noelting

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

The Limited Duties Of Lawyers To Protect The Funds And Property Of Nonclients, Vincent R. Johnson

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Issues arise daily in law practice about the duties owed by lawyers to nonclients with respect to funds or property entrusted to them. In resolving those issues, care must be exercised when interpreting state versions of Model Rule 1.15, the American Bar Association’s pattern ethics rule on safekeeping of funds and property. Otherwise, a lawyer’s duties to third persons may too readily encroach on the performance of obligations owed to clients, as well as on the legitimate interests of lawyers themselves.

As numerous authorities have recognized, lawyers are obliged to protect the property interests of third persons only if they …

Markle Interest, L.L.C. V. U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Peter B. Taylor

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This action is an appeal of a grant of summary judgment to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on the designation of critical-habitat for the dusky gopher frog under the ESA. Landowner appellants originally sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the Service, the Department of Interior, and agency officials challenging the designation of their private property as critical-habitat for the dusky gopher frog. The court’s holdings recognize loss of property value as a “particularized injury” for standing under the ESA in addition to addressing the landowners’ three principal arguments: 1) the critical habitat designation violated the ESA and the …

Arresting The Village-To-Prison Pipeline: Mandatory Criminal Adr As A Transitional Justice Strategy, Jeremy Akin

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Murr-Ky Waters: How Murr V. Wisconsin Creates Uncertainty In Attempting To Answer The “Denominator Question”, Charles M. Kassir

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

An Argument To The State Of Maine, The Town Of Wells, And Other Maine Towns Similarly Situated: Buy The Foreshore - Now, Orlando E. Delogu

Maine Law Review

This paper has its roots in the finality of what have come to be called the Moody Beach decisions. In the last of these two cases, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that the public's right to use the intertidal zone was limited to those uses and activities spelled out in the Colonial Ordinance of 16411647: “We agree with the Superior Court's declaration of the state of the legal title to Moody Beach. Long and firmly established rules of property law dictate that the plaintiff oceanfront owners at Moody Beach hold title in fee to the …

Saticoy Bay V. Fed. Nat’L Mortg. Ass’N, 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 36 (May. 17, 2018) (En Banc), Shady Sirsy

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court held that when the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is acting as a conservator, absent their affirmative relinquishment, the Federal Foreclosure Bar cloaks property with Congressional protection.

No Farms No Food? A Response To Baylen Linnekin, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

You have likely seen the bumper sticker, bold white text on a green background, reading “No Farms No Food.” The sticker is a product of, and in fact a tagline for, the American Farmland Trust. On the one hand, the point is obvious: As American Farmland Trust puts it, “[e]very meal on our plates [c]ontains ingredients grown on a farm. We all need farms to survive.” On the other hand, what seems like a plain statement on its face, “no farms no food,” is not so simple. Farms produce affordable food, they produce vast quantities of food, they produce healthy …

Understanding The Complicated Landscape Of Civil War Monuments, Jessica Owley, Jess Phelps

Journal Articles

This essay examines the controversy regarding confederate monuments and attempts to contextualize this debate within the current preservation framework. While much attention has been paid to this topic over the past year, particularly with regard to “public” monuments, such discussion has generally failed to recognize the varied and complicated property law layers involved—which can fundamentally change the legal requirements for modification or removal. We propose a spectrum or framework for assessing these resources ranging from public to private, and we explore the messy space in-between these poles where most monuments actually fall. By highlighting these categories, we provide an initial …

Take This Job And Shove It: The Pragmatic Philosophy Of Johnny Paycheck And A Prayer For Strict Liability In Appalachia, Eugene "Trey" Moore Iii

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Asarco Llc V. Atlantic Richfield Company, Ryan L. Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabiltiy Act, commonly known as CERCLA, facilitates cleanup of hazardous waste sites and those contaminated by other harmful substances by empowering the Environmental Protection Agency to identify responsible parties and require them to undertake or fund remediation. Because pollution sometimes occurrs over long periods of time by multiple parties, CERCLA also enables polluters to seek financial contribution from other contaminators of a particular site. The Ninth Circuit clarified the particuar circumstances under which contribution actions may arise in Asarco LLC v. Atlantic Richfield Co., holding non-CERCLA settlements may give rise to CERCLA contribution …

The Human Right Of Property, José E. Alvarez

University of Miami Law Review

Despite the absence of a comprehensive global pact on the subject, the human right to property protection—a right of property but only rarely to specific property—exists and is recognized in 21 human rights instruments, including some of the most widely ratified multilateral treaties ever adopted. The Cold War’s omission of property rights in the two principal treaties on human rights, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has been overtaken by events. But that reality continues to be resisted by legal scholars, including human rights advocates, as well …

An Error Of Law And The Credibility Of The Civil Resolution Tribunal, Douglas C. Harris, Sophie Marshall

All Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Schofield/Gunner Decisions And Episcopal Church Property-Splitting Litigation: Considering Proposed Improvements To The Litigation Process And The Neutral Principles Of Law Doctrine, Ten Years On, Timothy D. Watson

William & Mary Business Law Review

In recent years, the Episcopal Church in the United States has seen a spate of parishes leaving the Church. Many of these departing parishes have attempted to take property with them as they leave and continue to operate independently or realign themselves with a different denomination. The Episcopal Church maintains that this property is held by the parishes on behalf of the national Church, and has generally been successful in obtaining a return of the property through legal action. In deciding these suits, state courts have skirted carefully around the contours of ecclesiastical questions; many state courts, following the Supreme …

Maine Principles Of Ownership Along Water Bodies, Knud E. Hermansen, Donald R. Richards

Maine Law Review

This Article provides a summary of the Maine common law of riparian boundaries. It is geared toward practitioners who practice or provide counsel in the area of real property law or who must litigate boundaries and title rights involving water bodies. This Article also includes recommendations for fixing previously undefined boundaries across water. However, readers should be aware that this Article does not attempt to provide an exhaustive survey of all riparian law. In recent years state and federal legislation has further limited or restricted specific landowner common law rights along water bodies.

Florida Rock Industries, Inc. V. United States: Tipping The Scales In Favor Of Private Property Rights At The Public's Expense, Susan E. Spokes University Of Maine School Of Law

Maine Law Review

In Florida Rock Industries, Inc. v. United States the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the denial of a federal wetlands permit under section 1344 of the Clean Water Act may constitute a compensable taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court remanded the case to the Federal Court of Claims to determine the value of the property remaining after the permit denial, while warning the trial court that the existing record did not support a finding of the loss of all economically viable use of the property. The Federal …

Ed Godfrey: The Justice, The Person, And Some Cases On Property, Merle W. Loper

Maine Law Review

At the end of 1994 Dean Edward S. Godfrey III stepped down from his teaching position as Professor Emeritus of the University of Maine School of Law. In honor of his service to Maine’s only law school, to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, to the Maine Bar, and to the people of the State of Maine, the Board and Staff dedicate Volume 47 of the Maine Law Review to Dean Edward Godfrey. Reviews by Maine Law School faculty members of Dean Godfrey’s Law Court decisions in several areas of the law follow.

The Long-Standing Requirement That Delegations Of Land Use Control Power Contain "Meaningful" Standards To Restrain And Guide Decision-Makers Should Not Be Weakened, Orlando E. Delogu, Susan E. Spokes

Maine Law Review

Some forty years ago, a leading land use scholar noted that “it has always been recognized that it is an essential part of the judicial function to watch over the parochial and exclusionist attitudes and policies of local governments, and to see to it that these do not run counter to national policy and the general welfare.” Maine courts by and large have discharged this judicial function by consistently striking down unauthorized and overreaching local governmental land use decisions. Several recent cases, however, cast doubt on the Law Court's continuing commitment to guard against the parochial instincts of local land …

Maine Roads And Easements, Knud E. Hermansen, Donald R. Richards

Maine Law Review

Black's Law Dictionary defines an easement as a right of use over the property of another. An easement is a right in the owner of one parcel of land, by reason of such ownership, to use the land of another for a special purpose not inconsistent with a general property right in the owner. It is an interest that one person has in the land of another. A primary characteristic of an easement, that its burden falls upon the possessor of the land from which it issued, is expressed in the statement that the land constitutes a servient estate or …

Of Buildings, Statues, Art, And Sperm: The Right To Destroy And The Duty To Preserve, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

Courts tend to frame right-to-destroy disputes in terms of a conflict between respecting individual autonomy and avoiding social waste. That framing unduly obscures what is involved in these cases. Autonomy is a rich value that requires discerned investigation, and social waste masks the existence of community capabilities of legitimate concern. A human flourishing perspective illuminates these multiple values and capabilities. Conflicts involving the right to destroy resist neat categorical solutions, but that does not mean that they cannot be resolved rationally or even with a relatively high degree of predictability, as I have tried to show in this Article.

Who Owns North Carolina? Econometric, Geospatial, And Interview Analyses Of Land In Appalachian North Carolina For Land Policy Reform In The Appalachians: A Research Design And Findings To Date, Jacob Meadows

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.