Is it inevitable that another massive storm like Hurricane Harvey will bring disastrous flooding to Houston? Seeking to avoid government liability for home flooding caused by two Houston-area dams retaining runoff from the historic deluge, a Justice Department attorney argued Friday the probability of another Harvey is “incredibly low.”
Read moreThe federal government must face Louisiana landowners’ claims relating to land the Army Corps of Engineers took after Hurricane Katrina, a federal court ruled. The landowners claim the government took their property without compensation by altering shoreline along Lake Pontchartrain to improve the flood control system for New Orleans.
Read moreTown officials who traipsed on a Pennsylvania woman’s land, hunting for unmarked graves, could be on the hook for federal damages, the Supreme Court ruled Friday.
Read moreFor 13 years Eleonora Slovokhotova knew nothing of the danger lurking in her suburban Houston neighborhood, which she describes as “a wonderful area, golf courses and happy smiling faces.” The intruder stole softly into living rooms one night in August 2017 after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the gates on two dams amid historic flooding.
Read moreThe Houston home Carl and Cynthia Miller bought in 1988 sits empty, stripped to the studs. The neighborhood was once inhabited by close-knit homeowners who watched out for each other’s kids. Hurricane Harvey washed out the kinship and brought in a tide of renters.
Read moreThe Court of Federal Claims dismissed a complaint by cattle ranch owners about military flyovers, as flyovers are not a taking for which the ranchers can be compensated.
Read moreSeveral Ohio landowners argued before a Sixth Circuit panel Thursday that a mining company’s fracking operation under their property is unconstitutional, seeking to revive federal claims against the company and the Buckeye State.
Read moreA Pennsylvania town whose grave-hunting law brought it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court urged the justices Wednesday to shut the door on one angry local who tried to bypass state procedures with a federal takings suit.
Read moreA Sixth Circuit panel declined Thursday to revive federal takings claims brought by Ann Arbor residents who were required to install sump pumps in their homes after the city experienced sewage overflow problems.
Read moreA Michigan city’s ordinance that required some residents to connect their home’s drainage systems to the municipal storm-sewer system and install sump pumps was challenged Wednesday as unconstitutional before a Sixth Circuit panel that appeared unlikely to rule in their favor.
Read moreThe Third Circuit appeared critical Wednesday that a Kinder Morgan subsidiary should rely on federal law to pay less than fair-market value for land it seized via eminent domain to build an interstate pipeline.
Read moreThe Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed an appeals court ruling that the city of Madison does not have to compensate an advertising firm for building a bridge that obstructed the view of one side of its billboard.
Read moreA federal judge dismissed a lawsuit related to a $10 billion electronics manufacturing factory touted by President Donald Trump over the objections of Wisconsin residents who said a development agreement between their city and Foxconn Technology Group unlawfully takes their property.
Read moreThe Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case centered on whether a city’s placement of a bridge that blocks the view of a billboard amounts to an illegal taking of property.
Read moreA dispute involving private cemeteries is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, after the justices agreed Monday to decide whether a property owner must first exhaust all state court remedies before filing a federal lawsuit asserting an unconstitutional taking of land.
Read moreWisconsin residents filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday contesting the loss of their homes to the $10 billion Foxconn electronics factory, a project touted by President Donald Trump that is expected to break ground this year.
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Animal-rights advocates claim in court that a Minnesota agriculture farm offers “pet-n-plays” with gray wolf puppies but then kills the animals after they grow too old for visitor interactions.
Read moreThe Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that had struck down the state’s controversial “right-to-work” law, finding that it does not constitute an unlawful taking from unions.
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