State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Eminent Domain For The Seizure Of Underwater Mortgages, Sarah Thompson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Like many cities in the United States, Richmond, California suffered greatly from the recent mortgage crisis. The foreclosure crisis hit Richmond hard in 2009, when more than 2,000 homes in Richmond went into foreclosure. This figure is especially shocking given that there were 18,659 owner-occupied housing units in the city at that time. In 2012, the city saw an additional 914 foreclosures and a foreclosure rate of thirty out of 1,000 homes (well above the national average of thirteen of every 1,000 homes). Today, it is reported that nearly forty-six percent of homes in Richmond are “underwater,” meaning that what …

Federal Constraints On States’ Ability To License An Undocumented Immigrant To Practice Law , Adam Wright

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

No court has decided whether an undocumented immigrant can be admitted to a state bar in a manner consistent with federal law. At the time of this writing, the issue is pending before the California Supreme Court. Federal law prohibits states from providing public benefits to undocumented immigrants. In its definition of a “public benefit,” 8 U.S.C. § 1621 includes any professional license “provided by an agency of a State . . . or by appropriated funds of a State . . . .” The law’s prohibitions, however, are not unqualified. The statute’s “savings clause” allows states to provide public …

A Next, Big Step For The West: Using Model Legislation To Create A Water-Climate Element In Local Comprehensive Plans, Michelle Bryan

Faculty Law Review Articles

The West is witnessing early, important efforts to join water supply and land use planning, and the reality of climate change makes this convergence all the more critical. Local comprehensive planning presents itself as an existing and indispensable tool for unifying important planning efforts in the areas of land use, water, and climate change. As the primary regulators of land use, local governments are at the front line of regulating a myriad of environmental concerns. They are also integral partners in planning and implementing water-related initiatives alongside tribal, state, federal, and private partners. The West’s potential for broad-based action is …

Dormancy Versus Innovation: A Next Generation Dormant Commerce Clause, Sam Kalen

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hydraulic Fracturing And Water Management In The Great Lakes, Nicholas Schroeck, Stephanie Karisny

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

The Accidental Lawyer: A Law And Economics Perspective Of Inadvertent Waiver., Ido Baum

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The inadvertent waiver doctrine is part of the attorney-client privilege but its application lacks uniformity and thus is a major cause for distress for lawyers and clients. The concerns about an inadvertent waiver of the privilege intensify as technology changes the way attorneys and clients interact. Accordingly, seeking legal advice has become a dangerous activity. This Article first demonstrates that courts treat inadvertent waiver as a type of accident without duly attending to the implications of the concept. Drawing on economic analysis of tort law, this Article identifies how the liability regimes and unique harm rules applied by courts to …

Ignorance Of International Law Is No Excuse, Or How The Florida Legislature Ticked Off Canada, Patricia Morgan, Loren Turner, Edward T. Hart

UF Law Faculty Publications

During its 2012 session the Florida Legislature amended the text of Florida Statute 322.04 to add a requirement for nonresidents. International visitors would be required to have in their possession not only a valid drivers' license, but also an International Driving Permit (IDP) that translated into English the personal identification information of the driver. The change took effect January 1, 2013, but even before that date, Florida faced allegations that it was violating international law with this new requirement.

Kicking Ohio Medicaid Recipients When They Are Down: How Ohio's Third Party Liability Medicaid Statute Violates Federal Law As Interpreted By Ahlborn, Kelly Voyles

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that Ohio’s Medicaid third party liability statute must either be invalidated by the Ohio Supreme Court or repealed by the Ohio General Assembly. This Note then goes on to argue that the Ohio General Assembly must amend its Medicaid third party liability statute to require settlement allocation before ODJFS can recover the medical payments it made on behalf of Ohio Medicaid recipients. Finally, this Note argues that Ohio should also amend its Medicaid third party liability statute to require that the parties come to an allocation agreement themselves or, if that proves impossible, to require a judicial …

Blocking The Ballot: Why Florida’S New Voting Restrictions Demonstrate A Need For Continued Enforcement Of The Voting Rights Act Preclearance Requirement, Michael Ellement

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

California Dreaming: The California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

Half of American workers are not covered by employer-sponsored retirement arrangements. The recently passed California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act seeks to solve this problem by mandating retirement savings arrangements for California employers, coupled with a public investment vehicle for investing these private retirement savings. The Act is important because of California’s size and status as a trendsetter for other states.

This Article is the first to examine the important legal questions the Act raises under the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA. Contrary to the drafters’ intent, the savings accounts authorized under the Act do not qualify as individual …

Human Trafficking Law And Resources, Kincaid C. Brown

Law Librarian Scholarship

The U.S. State Department estimates as many as 27 million men, women, and children are global human trafficking victims at any given time. In 2012, only 46,570 new victims were identified. Globally, there were only 7,705 prosecutions and 4,746 convictions for human trafficking crimes in 2012. In the United States, there were 2,515 suspected incidents of human trafficking investigated between January 2008 and June 2010. Of these, more than 80 percent of the victims of sex trafficking were U.S. citizens or nationals, and more than 90 percent of the victims of labor trafficking were undocumented or qualified aliens.

After The Berger Blanc: A Comparative Approach To The Utilitarian Regulation Of Municipal Animal Control, Jodi Lazare

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In April 2011, Radio-Canada aired an investigative report exposing the cruel treatment of domestic animals by workers at one of Montreal's largest animal shelters. A private business, the Berger Blanc held the majority of municipal contracts for animal control services throughout Montreal. Following the widely-watched exposé, the regulation of domestic animal welfare rose to the top of the agenda both at Montreal's City Hall and Quebec's National Assembly, as citizens demanded a response to the jarring images of cruelty and neglect. The province responded, adopting a regulation to strengthen the legal protection of dogs and cats under Quebec's Animal Health …

The Referendum Process In Maryland: Balancing Respect For Representative Government With The Right To Direct Democracy, Steven G. Shapiro

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article will examine the Maryland referendum petition process to determine whether any changes in the current law should or could be made. This includes whether the legislature should reverse the holding in Whitley, whether it should add additional requirements to and restrictions on the signature gathering process, and whether the percentage of voters needed for a successful challenge should be increased.

First, as a matter of policy, should the law be changed? For example, does it strike the proper balance between respect for the legislative process and allowing for more voices in legislative matters by the public at large? …

'Simple' Takes On The Supreme Court, Robert Tsai

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This essay assesses black literature as a medium for working out popular understandings of America’s Constitution and laws. Starting in the 1940s, Langston Hughes’s fictional character, Jesse B. Semple, began appearing in the prominent black newspaper, the Chicago Defender. The figure affectionately known as “Simple” was undereducated, unsophisticated, and plain spoken - certainly to a fault according to prevailing standards of civility, race relations, and professional attainment. Butthese very traits, along with a gritty experience under Jim Crow, made him not only a sympathetic figure but also an armchair legal theorist. In a series of barroom conversations, Simple ably critiqued …

A General Defense Of Erie Railroad Co. V. Tompkins, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins was the most important federalism decision of the Twentieth Century. Justice Brandeis’s opinion for the Court stated unequivocally that “[e]xcept in matters governed by the Federal Constitution or by acts of Congress, the law to be applied in any case is the law of the state. . . . There is no federal general common law.” Seventy-five years later, however, Erie finds itself under siege. Critics have claimed that it is “bereft of serious intellectual or constitutional support” (Michael Greve), based on a “myth” that must be “repressed” (Craig Green), and even “the worst decision …

Simplifying The Standard Of Review In North Carolina Administrative Appeals, Sarah H. Ludington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Contested Real Estate Rezoning From A Game Theory And Stakeholder Analysis Perspective, Joseph M. Bradley, Patrick T. Hester

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Real estate developers may apply to re-zone a parcel of land when their development plan does not conform to the original zoning, or when economic conditions change and they decide that they need to revise their plan to one that is non-conforming. When the revised plan conflicts with the vision or values of other stakeholders (e.g. neighbors, local government), the real estate developer enters a decision process with both risk and uncertainty, while at the same time the affected stakeholders are placed in the reciprocal decision process. This process resembles a game with repeated plays as the developer and stakeholders …

The Benefit Corporation: A Questionable Solution To A Non-Existent Problem., Justin Blount, Kwabena Offei-Danso

St. Mary's Law Journal

Throughout American history a continuous call for businesses to wield their power and influence in such a way as to not only create economic value for shareholders, but also to create value in an ethical manner that benefits society as a whole has existed. Currently, many businesses respond to this call by integrating social responsibility into their operations. A recent innovation on this front is the development of the “benefit corporation” by the non-profit organization “B Lab.” The benefit corporation is essentially a hybrid entity. It is designed to have characteristics of both non-profit and for-profit entities. The entity also …

To A Friend: The Honorable Will Garwood., Emilio M. Garza

St. Mary's Law Journal

William Lockhart Garwood died on July 14, 2011. In his thirty years on the court, Will would author numerous notable decisions, but his reputation would be solidified by two extraordinary cases: United States v. Lopez, in which, for the first time in recent judicial history, a court of appeals held that a congressional act was invalid as beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause; and United States v. Emerson, in which, a court of appeals first articulated the Second Amendment protects individual Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. Neither case was without controversy. Not surprisingly, the Supreme …

Community-Scale Renewable Energy, Hannah J. Wiseman, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As the movement toward cleaner energy has gained momentum within the United States, a growing number of scholars and policymakers have made the case for community-scale renewable energy: mid-sized energy sources supported by resources pooled from several private parties in close geographic proximity. When built and utilized at the community level, these energy facilities may allow for economies of scale that their owners could not achieve working individually. Individual distributed generation, such as solar infrastructure on the roofs of homes, involves high transaction costs and creates relatively small impacts. At the same time, community-scale renewable energy has advantages over large-scale …