|
|||||
|
Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District, No. 2-09-1345, September 22, 2010: This appeal of the trial court’s balancing of equities when setting remedies for violation of a conservation easement was denied because the Appellate Court found the a balancing was appropriate and the trial court had not abused its discretion. The easement violation and remedy were [...] United States District Court, W.D. Virginia, No. 3:09-cv-00075, September 29, 2010: This attempt by a conservation easement holder to defend the easement area from treated sewage discharge under a state-issued NPDES permit failed as the Court held that US EPA’s decision not to object to the permit did not require prior review under the National Historic [...] Court Of Appeals of Arizona, Division Two, 2 CA-CV 2009-0186, Aug. 31, 2010: Attorney fees may not be awarded to a private landowner who prevails in a regulatory taking case pursuant to A.R.S. § 11-972(B). The court analyzed the statute and concluded that attorney fees may be awarded only in a physical taking matter and reviewed [...] On July 23, 2010, US Attorney General Eric Holder signed final regulations revising the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations (28 C.F.R. Parts 35 and 36) which affect alterations to “places of recreation,” museums and all other places of public accommodation. In general, these final rules take effect 6 months after they are published in the [...] MA Supreme Judicial Court, SJC-10559, August 2, 2010: Holds that the public’s interest in tidelands (public trust doctrine) may not be extinguished either by registration of title under the state’s Torrens system or by acts of the Attorney General absent an express delegation of power by the legislature, which has not occurred. Arno has a certificate [...] United States District Court, E.D. California. CIV. S-10-394 FCD/KJN, June 8, 2010: The court granted the power company’s motion for transfer of venue of this transmission line case to the Southern District of California from the Eastern District because “there is little, if any, nexus between the claims alleged and the Eastern District” and “very substantial [...] A web page titled, Conservation Easements Legislative Update 2010, By R. Lee Stephens, Jr. and Robert J. Allen, posted May 24, 2010, by the Virginia law firm Spotts Fain summarizes bills signed into law following the most recent Virginia General Assembly session. Obviously, I can’t comment on [...] Washington State Court of Appeals Division I, no. 62707-4, May 24, 2010 Six federal agencies led by the EPA issued the final strategy document, Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed [EPA‐903‐R‐10‐003] on May 12, 2010, following up an executive order mandating a federal strategy to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Among the outcomes sought by the strategy is “Protect an additional 2 million acres of [...] The amicus briefs of National Trust for Historic Preservation and Trust for Architectural Easements supporting a rehearing in Kaufman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue are available. The key issue is whether a mortgage holder’s priority claim on casualty insurance and condemnation proceeds causes a “conservation restriction” to lose its status as perpetual (under IRS regs) notwithstanding [...] SUPREME COURT OF NORTH DAKOTA, No. 20090199, May 13, 2010 Held that a corporation’s purchase of land violates the ban on corporate ownership of farmland if the predominant use and nature of the entire tract purchased is as farmland or ranchland, rejecting a determination of land use “acre-by-acre”. The purchaser, Crosslands, is a nonprofit corporation [...] Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) adopted rules in January 2010 to implement the Oregon Transfer of Development Rights Pilot Program. A description of this initiative is available online from DLCD at http://www.oregon.gov/LCD/tdr_pilot_program.shtml. According to DCLD, “Transfer of development rights (TDR) programs are a voluntary, incentive-based and market-driven approach to preserve land and direct [...] Ohio Sixth Appellate District Court of Appeals No. E-09-038, April 16, 2010 Holds that land deriving title from grantor of restrictive covenant to a state agency is not subject to the covenant because the deeds subsequent to the recording of the covenant did not mention the covenant and the owner had no actual knowledge of it. The [...] United States Tax Court, T.C. Memo. 2010-45, March 11, 2010 Although the petitioner-taxpayer lost in this case, the Tax Court agreed to apply the “substantial compliance doctrine” to the question of whether the petitioner complied with the requirements of sec. 1.170A-13, Income Tax Regs. regarding a non-cash charitable contribution. The court wrote, “Under the substantial compliance doctrine, [...] FR Doc 2010-4473, Federal Register: March 4, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 42) The IRS issued a routine notice and request for comments: “Internal Revenue Code section 170(h) describes situations in which a taxpayer is entitled to a deduction for a charitable contribution for conservation purposes of a partial interest in real property. This regulation requires a taxpayer [...] United States District Court, D. Utah. Case No. 2:09-cv-435, No. 2:09-cv-440 The US District Court for Utah held the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and other environmental and historic preservation advocacy groups (collectively, “SUWA”) are entitled to intervention as-of-right in litigation by various energy companies challenging the US Secretary of the Interior’s withdrawal of 77 leases [...] New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed The Natural Heritage Conservation Act, SB 186. The Associated Press reported March 9, 2010, “[the] new law will allow the state to acquire conservation easements from farmers, ranchers and other landowners to ensure that the property is not developed.” The Act also establishes a fund that can attract federal [...] Howard County, Maryland, Agricultural Land Preservation Board approved a policy February 16, 2010, to allow, under certain conditions, properties encumbered by an agricultural land preservation easement to establish wetland mitigation for nontidal wetlands that were, or will be, lost due to regulated urban or agricultural activities. “To avoid incursions onto productive land, wetland restoration and/or [...] Supreme Court of Vermont, No. 07-483, filed February 26, 2010 Not strictly a conservation easement decision, this opinion is worth reading as a cautionary soap opera tale of the attempted flouting of an intestate decedent’s evident wish to preserve family lands. While the decision upholds a trial court’s ruling that prevented one course of development of the [...] |
|||||
|
Copyright Jonathan Bockian 2012 - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
