Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

Victimization On Main Street: Occupy Wall Street And The Mortgage Fraud Crisis, Sandra D. Jordan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Amenities, Amenities, Amenities? How Policy Makers Can Swot Their Way To Better Entrepreneurial Facility Options, Darren A. Prum

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Across the country, policymakers from both the public and private sector, regardless of their level of responsibility, turn to entrepreneurial ventures as an opportunity to drive economic activity within their sphere of influence. They develop and implement strategies that encourage new business ventures but fail to consider a fundamental aspect of the organizing process of a business, which is finding a suitable facility. As such, this article seeks to consider and evaluate the various forms and types of facilities available to entrepreneurs in order to provide policymakers with an insight as to the best methods to assist in facilitating their …

Consumption Property In The Sharing Economy, Shelly Kreiczer-Levy

Pepperdine Law Review

Various doctrines from different areas of the law provide special legal protection for property that is produced and used for personal use, creating the legal category of "consumption property." Zoning, criminal procedure, discrimination, foreclosure and bankruptcy, taxes and eminent domain all treat property for consumption differently than commercial property. Recently, a new social phenomenon known as the sharing economy allows owners to rent out personal assets such as a room in their home, their private car, a bicycle, and even pets. The sharing economy challenges the foundational distinction between privately used property and commercial property and leads to fragmentation of …

Come And “Take” It: Whooping Cranes, Texas Water Rights, Endangered Species Act Liability, And Reconciling Ecological Scientific Testimony Within The Context Of Proximate Causation, Brett A. Miller

Student Scholarship

Tension between science and the law is a pervading feature of Endangered Species Act (ESA) jurisprudence. Incorporating the scientific discipline of ecology within the legal landscape presents distinct challenges, particularly in comparison with more traditional laboratory sciences. Within the realm of Endangered Species Act liability, the intricacies of nature exacerbate already complicated links of causation, challenging the ability to prove violations of the “take” prohibition. Because uncertainties permeate scientists’ ability to understand complex ecosystem processes, courts should rely on the overarching practicality of common law principles when reviewing ecological testimony.

When evaluating claims that allege violations of the “take” prohibition, …

Book Review: Earth Jurisprudence: Private Property And The Environment, F. Tim Knight

Librarian Publications & Presentations

No abstract provided.

Ahead Of The Curve: Promoting Land Tenure Security In Sub-Saharan Africa To Protect The Environment, Andrew R. Falk

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Restitution For The Mistaken Improver Of Land, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The recent Malaysian case of Dream Property Sdn Bhd v Atlas Housing Sdn Bhd marks a rare occasion where an improver of another’s land is allowed to claim from the latter for the improvement. In a landmark judgment, the Federal Court of Malaysia recognised the right of recovery as based on the law of unjust enrichment, but curiously departed from certain well-established principles under common law which are less generous to the improver. The significance of this decision clearly lies in its contribution to the continuing endeavour to achieve an appropriate balance between the interests of the landowner and the …

Reclassifying Geostationary Earth Orbit As Private Property: Why Natural Law And Utilitarian Theories Of Property Demand Privatization, Ian Blodger

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Second Chances For The Second City's Vacant Properties: An Analysis Of Chicago's Policy Approaches To Vacancy, Abandonment, & Blight, Elizabeth Butler

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Addressing the externalities of vacancy and blight is a major challenge for the Chicago metropolitan area. While neighborhoods on the South and West sides of Chicago struggle with blight, neglect, and abandonment, downtown Chicago and the northern neighborhoods and suburbs experience stronger market conditions. This crisis has amplified entrenched socioeconomic divisions and ultimately burdens the entire region by perpetuating a cycle of poverty, violence, and physical and social disorder that tarnish Chicago’s image.

This Note outlines Chicago’s vacant property challenge by discussing the history of urban decline in Chicago. It examines factors that led to a high level of vacant …

Shadow Wood Homeowners Association, Inc.; And Gogo Way Trust V. New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (January 28, 2016), Andrea Orwoll

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court reviewed an appeal from a district court order granting summary judgment to a bank that had lost a condominium in an HOA lien foreclosure sale. The Court held that despite statutory provisions, which seem prohibit overturning an HOA lien foreclosure sale if required recitals are present in the HOA’s trustee deed, there remains a common law power to overturn such foreclosure sales. The Court reaffirmed the principle that, where appropriate, Nevada courts may “grant equitable relief from a defective HOA lien foreclosure sale”—but only when there has been both 1) an inadequate price paid, and 2) fraud or …

The Unfortunate Provincialism Of The Space Resources Act, Thomas Simmons

Faculty Publications

This article discusses aspects of the Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015, namely exclusion of non-US citizens and companies from extraterrestrial resource rights.

Southern Highlands V. San Florentine, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 3 (Jan. 14, 2016), Kristen Matteoni

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Under the plain language of NRS 116.3116(4), “equal priority” is given to multiple HOA liens on the same property when those liens secure unpaid HOA charges and dues. When one lienholder of equal priority forecloses, all other liens are terminated. Nonetheless, all equal priority lienholders share in the foreclosure profit by either being paid in full when able to do so or, if sale profit is inadequate, through a pro-rata share of the proceeds. Thus, because the Foothills and Southern Highlands have equal priority liens, Foothills’ foreclosure terminated Southern Highlands lien, however Southern Highlands is entitled its allotment of the …

Eviction Court And A Judicial Duty Of Inquiry, Harold Krent, Peter Cheung, Kayla Higgins, Matthew Mcelwee

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments: Are Land Contracts Preying On Low-Income Buyers Or Do They Offer A Different Avenue For Home Ownership?, Christopher Barron

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

As of May 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced an investigation into the practice of land contracts and compliance with federal truth and lending laws. The CFPB’s investigation is in response to the increasing number of reports from organizations, such as the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), condemning land contracts for their predatory nature and disparate impact on low-income buyers, specifically those of color. Furthermore, land contracts have been labeled as “Wall Street’s Toxic Transactions” because of large wall street investment groups utilizing them for their own capital gain. Land contracts have been vilified for luring unsuspecting …

Foreclosure Of A Deed Of Trust In Virginia, Doug Rendleman

Scholarly Articles

This article deals with foreclosure of a deed of trust in Virginia. The Introduction discusses the deed of trust or mortgage as a social and political institution and the foreclosure crisis that seems to be ending. Part I is a brief history of mortgage law. It provides a short history of the modern mortgage system in the United States. Part II follows with a description of the approach that Virginia takes to mortgages. It localizes the mortgage institution to Virginia and introduces Virginia's vocabulary and technical details, the deed of trust, and the parties' rights and obligations. Part III provides …

Recent Development: Assategue Coastal Trust, Inc. V. Schwalbach: An Applicant Must Satisfy The "Unwarranted Hardship" Standard To Be Granted A Variance; The Variance Must Have No Adverse Impact On The Environment And Conform To The Purpose Of The Critical Area Program, Michael Louis Brown

University of Baltimore Law Forum

The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that the Worchester County Board properly applied the “unwarranted hardship” standard and correctly granted a variance under local critical area law. Assateague Coastal Trust, Inc. v. Schwalbach, 448 Md. 112, 140, 136 A.3d 866, 882 (2016). The court held that the variance would not have an adverse impact on the environment and the development was in conformity with the Critical Area Program’s purpose and intent. Schwalbach, 448 Md. at 143-44, 136 A.3d at 883.

Phoenix Within A Phoenix: Google Campus Warsaw And The Fascinating, Intentional Rebirth Of Warsaw’S Praga District, Leila Lawlor

Scholarly Articles

The Praga district of Warsaw has been experiencing a rebirth. This phoenix district, lying within the eastern central part of Warsaw, is experiencing a period of rapid growth and revitalization. Five years ago Praga was thought of as crime-ridden and impoverished, but the area’s low rents and large, historic spaces have started attracting creative types – web designers, artists, musicians and others. In June 2014, Praga landed a windfall when internet giant Google announced plans to build a center for technology startup companies in the district. The location of Google Campus Warsaw will undoubtedly have beneficial effects on employment and …

The Strange Career Of Private Takings Of Private Property For Private Use, Jan G. Laitos

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Part I summarizes the two private entities thattraditionally have been conferred the power to take private property for their own private use: (1) natural resource developers and (2) common carriers involved in, andresponsible for, our country’s transportation, storage, and distribution (TS&D) system for energy infrastructure—pipelines, electrical transmission lines, and rail lines. Part II considers the traditional rationale for those private takings, which typically relies on some version ofthe notion thatthe public atlarge may, or will, eventually benefit from this private exercise of eminent domain. Part III explores the four central problems associated with these kinds of private takings: (1) the …

How Can The Government Sustain People's Privacy Interests As The Real Estate Industry Adopts And Applies A Fully Electronic System? 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 321 (2016), Drago Putica

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Fixing Fuller: Securing Just Compensation For Private Beneficiaries Of Federal Grazing Lands, Matthew C. Piccolo

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Tragedy To Triumph In The Pursuit Of Looted Art: Altmann, Benningson, Portrait Of Wally, Von Saher And Their Progeny, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 394 (2016), Donald Burris

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This article is a broad and approachable overview of American law regarding the potential repatriation of Nazi-looted art—an area which the author and his now-retired partner, Randy Schoenberg, helped develop from the ground up starting with the development of the Altmann case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004, and continuing on through a number of fascinating looted-art cases of a more recent vintage. Parts of the article read as much like a detective story as a summary of cases and Mr. Burris has been kind enough to share both his approach to these cases and his prognosis for …

Spaces For Sharing: Micro-Units Amid The Shift From Ownership To Access, John Infranca

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Of Fences And Definite Patent Boundaries, Deepa Varadarajan

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Patent claims are supposed to mark the boundaries of a patent clearly so that competitors and follow-on innovators can avoid infringement. But commentators routinely lament the failure of patent claims to adequately perform this notice function. In numerous calls for patent reform, courts and scholars have contrasted the indeterminacy of patent claims with the clarity of real property boundaries. The Supreme Court recently echoed this sentiment in "Nautilus v. Biosig Instruments." In "Nautilus," the Court heightened the patent requirement of claim definiteness and reversed Federal Circuit precedent, which had allowed many ambiguous claims to survive invalidity challenges. This Article analyzes …

Sos: Saving The Secondary Mortgage Market From The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’S Ability-To-Repay Rule, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 857 (2016), Laquenta Rudison

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chicago’S Last Unclaimed Indian Territory: A Possible Native American Claim Upon Billy Caldwell’S Land, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 91 (2016), Scott Priz

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tempering Civil Rights Conflicts: Common Law For The Moral Marketplace, Adam J. Macleod

Scholarly Articles

Property law is not only sexy but also loaded with moral conflict. Many market transactions are suddenly politically weighted acts. Can law provide a peaceful solution to the present conflict between sexual-identity right claims and conscience? This Article argues that law, understood in its textured, common law contours, may provide a more peaceful and reasonable solution than (a) peremptory claim-rights, (b) positive rules, and (c) markets unmediated by law. Properly understood, the common law doctrines of public accommodations and contractual licenses are not the source of the problem; they offer a potential solution. Authority to adjudicate common law liberties should …

A Crackerjack Of A Sea Yarn: The Triumphs, Tributes And Trials Of Treasure Hunter Tommy Thompson, Taylor Simpson-Wood

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Zoning Neighborhoods For Resilience: Drivers, Tools And Impacts, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A new urban design is needed, one that if not climate-determinist, is climate-cognizant. The built environment should be structured and the natural environment must be managed and protected in a way that regards climate forces that if left unchecked will sap the energy, the very existence of the city.7 A new urban design must begin with a statement of clear ends to be achieved, be based upon authoritative scientific, legal and social principles and must be implemented with an understanding of the costs--monetary and socio-political, that are demonstrably justified in the light of the alternatives. The extravagant and pretentious historical …

Varying The Variance: How New York City Can Solve Its Housing Crisis And Optimize Land Use To Serve The Public Interest, Nathan T. Boone

Brooklyn Law Review

As Millennials repopulate American cities and seek jobs in creative industries, housing affordability has risen to the forefront of urban policy battles. Major conflicts exist between homeowners, renters, municipal governments, and growing industries regarding the proper way to grapple with an influx of new capital, both financial and human. New York City is a prime example of this problem. Housing cost increases have exceeded income increases, leaving a large percentage of New Yorkers “rent burdened.” This note seeks to examine a likely cause of the present problem: zoning and variance systems that limit the ability of private land owners to …

Avoiding Decline: Fostering Resilience And Sustainability In Midsize Cities, Barbara Cosens

Articles

Eighty-five percent of United States citizens live in urban areas. However, research surrounding the resilience and sustainability of complex urban systems focuses largely on coastal megacities (>1 million people). Midsize cities differ from their larger counterparts due to tight urban-rural feedbacks with their immediate natural environments that result from heavy reliance and close management of local ecosystem services. They also may be less path-dependent than larger cities due to shorter average connection length among system components, contributing to higher responsiveness among social, infrastructural, and ecological feedbacks. These distinct midsize city features call for a framework that organizes information and …