Marzulla Law Blog

Supreme Court Takes on Two Takings Cases
The Supreme Court of the United States will hear two takings cases this term: Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, California, No. 22-1074, a takings case involving a California county’s “Traffic Relief” road improvement program financed, under county-enacted legislation,...

Meet our Law Clerk, William Tran
We are pleased to have William Tran join us as a law clerk. He is currently a 2L at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. William graduated with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at Austin and double-majored in Government and...

CFC Rejects Government’s Argument That One Fire Alone Cannot Be a Taking
The U.S. Forest Service initiated a prescribed burn in the Santa Fe National Forest in April 2022 that resulted in the largest and most destructive wildfire in the State of New Mexico’s history. The Hermit’s Peak fire destroyed 300,000 acres of land, leaving behind a...

A Word on Books and the Just Compensation Clause
During late August when many of us were sitting by pools or on the beach reading a summer thriller, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued its own version of a thrilling interpretation of the Just Compensation Clause. The...

Meet Our Legal Intern Natalie Maki
Natalie Maki is from Lake Orion, Michigan, and is currently a Junior at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History, a minor in Philosophy, and a concentration in Environmental Studies. She is a...

If the Government Takes Your Money, Is That a Taking?
The short answer to this question is maybe yes, maybe no. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently held that the answer was no for the Electrical Welfare Trust Fund of Washington, D.C. and the Stone & Marble Masons of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Health and...

Marzulla Law Works to Recover Compensation for Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Losses
The Marzulla Law team is working hard to complete and submit proof of loss forms documenting claims for property owners whose homes and property were destroyed and damaged by the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fires in the Santa Fe National Forest. The 2022 Hermit’s...

Takings, Police Power, and Recent Supreme Court Property Rights Decision
2023 has been a good year for property rights. In May, the Supreme Court held that a Minnesota statute that allowed a local government, Hennepin County, to retain the surplus proceeds from a tax sale violated the Just Compensation Clause. The petitioner, 94-year-old...

INBLF Fly-In Presentation: The Strategic Use of Pretrial Motions
I was pleased to be asked to speak at the recent INBLF Litigation Fly-In in Chicago about the strategic use of pretrial motions. The Fly-In brought in litigators from across the country (and from Canada) on a variety of topics. My presentation was titled, “Pretrial...

In a Single Day Supreme Court Issues Two Big Property Rights Decisions
The Supreme Court has just issued two major decisions in cases signaling this Court’s strong backing of property rights: Tyler v. Hennenpin County, Minnesota, No. 22-166, and Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 21-454. Nancie Marzulla worked with the...