Pacific Legal Foundation Constitutional Property Rights

Prior to joining Pacific Legal Foundation, Robert was a director with Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu, Hawaii specializing in property and land use issues including eminent domain, inverse condemnation, regulatory takings, water rights, and voting rights. He is also the Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School, in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he teaches courses on eminent domain, property rights, and land use law. He has also been appointed by William & Mary Law School to the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Advisory Board.

An elected member of the American Law Institute, Robert also serves as a Planning Co-Chair and Faculty Member of one of ALI’s longest-running legal education programs on eminent domain and land valuation litigation. He is a frequent speaker on land use and eminent domain issues, and regularly publishes scholarly papers and articles on this area of the law. He authors a widely-read blog on land use, property, and takings law, inversecondemnation.com, and his commentary on property rights issues is often quoted in the media.

SIGNIFICANT EMINENT DOMAIN AND PROPERTY RIGHTS REPRESENTATIONS AND REPORTED DECISIONS

A complete list of reported cases in which Robert has been involved, is available here.

• Robert has filed briefs amicus curiae on behalf of the Owners’ Counsel of America in support of property owners in a number of property rights cases reviewed by the United States Supreme Court including: Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, 572 U.S. ___ (2014), Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, 570 U.S. ___ (2013), Arkansas Game & Fish Comm’n v. U.S., 568 U. S. ____ (2012), and Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep’t of Environmental Protection, 998 So. 2d 1102 (2010). He has also co-authored amicus briefs on behalf of Owners’ Counsel of America in support of landowners in eminent domain cases before various state supreme courts.
• County of Kauai ex rel. Nakazawa v. Baptiste, 115 Haw. 15, 165 P.3d 916 (2007) (represented homeowners in appeal of government challenge to validity of county charter capping real property taxes for resident homeowners).
• Maunalua Beach Ohana 28 v. State of Hawaii (appeal pending in the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals) (represent amicus supporting property owners who claim statute effected a regulatory taking of their shoreline property).
• Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) (amicus curiae brief on the “public use” requirement in eminent domain).
• Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528 (2005) (amicus curiae brief on the standards for regulatory takings).
• Maui Tomorrow v. State of Hawaii, 110 Haw. 234, 131 P.3d 517 (2006) (represented Maui farmers in challenge to allocation of fresh water on Maui, and related appeal for attorneys fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988).
• Leslie v. County of Hawaii, 109 Haw. 384, 126 P.3d 1071 (2006) (amicus curiae brief regarding proper scope of coastal zone regulations).
• Alameda Gateway, Ltd. v. United States, 45 Fed. Cl. 757 (1999) (represented property owner in Tucker Act case seeking just compensation for inverse condemnation of submerged and riparian property adjacent to the Oakland Inner Harbor – one of the few cases where a court has upheld an owner’s claim to compensation for taking of navigable waters).
• United States v. Alameda Gateway, Ltd., 213 F.3d 1161(9th Cir. 2000) petition for cert. withdrawn due to settlement (Aug. 2000) (companion case to above; represented property owner on appeal in suit brought by Corps of Engineers seeking reimbursement of costs from property owner).
• Maunalua Associates, Inc., fka Bedford Properties, Inc. v. City & County of Honolulu, No. 89-3539-11 (Haw., First Cir. 2002) (represented property owner in 15+ year, $100 million land use litigation seeking just compensation for downzoning and regulatory taking of vested development permit).
• Boone v. United States, 725 F. Supp. 1509 (D. Haw. 1989) and 743 F. Supp. 1367 (D. Haw. 1989), aff’d, 944 F.2d 1489 (9th Cir. 1991) (trial and appeal protecting private navigable waters under inverse condemnation theory).
• Kaiser Hawaii Kai Dev. Co. v. City & County of Honolulu, 70 Haw. 480, 777 P.2d 244 (Haw. 1989) (represented property owner in a case invalidating voter initiative as a means of enacting land use legislation in Hawaii).
• Sandy Beach Defense Fund v. City & County of Honolulu, 773 P.2d 250 (Haw. 1989) (defended coastal development permit from due process and equal protection challenges in Hawaii state courts and satellite litigation in Honolulu Zoning Board of Appeals).
• Lum Yip Kee, Ltd. v. City & County of Honolulu, 767 P.2d 244 (Haw. 1989) (amicus curiae brief challenging initiative as method of enacting zoning ordinances in Honolulu).

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Below is a select list of the many presentations Robert has recently given on land use and eminent domain. For a complete listing, including upcoming events and speaking engagements, visit here.

• American Law Institute: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “Eminent Domain National Law Update,” February 2015, San Francisco, CA.
• American Law Institute: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “Challenging the Take,” February 2015, San Francisco, CA.
• American Law Institute: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “A Full and Perfect Equivalent for Just Compensation: The Historical Context and Practice,” January 2014, New Orleans, LA.
• American Law Institute: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “Condemning Underwater Mortgages,” January 2013, Miami Beach, FL.
• American Law Institute-American Bar Association: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “The Role of Hawaii’s Unique Property Law in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Takings Cases,” January 2012, San Diego, CA.
• American Law Institute-American Bar Association: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “The “Social” Lawyer: New Media Strategies for Marketing Your Eminent Domain Practice,” February 2011, Coral Gables, FL.
• American Law Institute-American Bar Association: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, “Winning Arguments in Challenging the Right To Take and Public Use, February 2010, Scottsdale, AZ.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND PAPERS

Robert regularly publishes scholarly and practical articles on property rights and takings law and his most recent publications include those listed below. For a full list, please visit here.

• Seeking Justice Through Just Compensation, 11 Brigham-Kanner Prop. Rts. J. __ (forthcoming 2022)
• Common Sense and Common Law: Defining “Property” in Cedar Point v. Hassid, 38 Prac. Real Estate Lawyer 3 (Am Law Inst. 2022)
• Evaluating Emergency Takings: Flattening the Economic Curve, 29 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 1145 (2021)
• Takings, PASH, and the Changing Coastal Environment, 43 U. Haw. L. Rev. 525 (2021)
• 2021 Eminent Domain Update: Key Decision in Public Use and Just Compensation, 37 Prac. Real Estate Lawyer 29 (Am. Law. Inst. 2021) (with Amy Boulris)
• Hoist the Yellow Flag and Spam® Up: The Separation of Powers Limitation on Hawai’i’s Emergency Authority, 43 U. Haw. L. Rev. 71 (2021)
• Sublimating Municipal Home Rule and Separation of Powers in Knick v. Township of Scott, 47 Fordham Urb. L.J. 509 (2020)
• Restatement (SCOTUS) of Property: What Happened to Use in Murr v. Wisconsin?, 87 UMKC L. Rev. 891 (2019)
• Back to the Future of Land Use Regulation, 7 Brigham-Kanner Prop. Rts. J. 109 (2018)
• Murr v. Wisconsin: The Supreme Court Rewrites Property Rules in Multiple-Parcel Regulatory Takings Cases, 41 Zoning & Planning Law Report 1 (2018)
• “Property” and Investment-Backed Expectations in Ridesharing Regulatory Takings Cases, 39 U. Haw. L. Rev. 301 (2017)
• The Law of Eminent Domain – A Fifty State Survey (Am. Bar Ass’n 2012) (Hawaii chapter)
• Eminent Domain – A Handbook of Condemnation Law (Am. Bar Ass’n 2011) (chapters on Prelitigation Process and Flooding and Erosion), 31 Zoning & Planning Law Report 11, (Dec. 2008).

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Chair (2017-18) ABA State and Local Government Law Section
• ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers
• ABA Litigation Section (Hawaii Editor, Case Notes – Committee on Condemnation, Zoning & Land Use)
• Co-Chair and Faculty, American Law Institute-Continuing Legal Education: Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Course of Study
• Board of Directors, Owners’ Counsel of America (2012-2015)