Blog
Love Terminal Partners v. United States
On June 20, 2019, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to issue a writ of certiorari in Love Terminal Partners v. United States, No. 18-1062. In 2006, Congress passed the Wright Amendment Reform Act, which codified a five-party agreement among the cities of...
Government Liable for Contract Damages for Not Reimbursing Insurers Cost-Sharing Payments
In 2010, Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act as part of a comprehensive scheme of health insurance reform. One provision of the reform Act included a cost-sharing reduction designed to reduce the out-of-pocket expenses paid by individuals whose household income...
Government Settles Fairy Shrimp Critical Habitat Challenge
As previously reported, in 2013 Otay Mesa Property, L.P. sued the U.S. Department of Interior in federal district court for the District of Columbia, arguing that designating 57 acres of their commercial property in San Diego County as critical habitat for the...
Streamlining NEPA Review Process
Efforts are underway to streamline the notoriously costly and time-consuming environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act. On average it takes 4.5 years to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required under the NEPA, not...
Justice Kennedy: Takings in the Balance
During his three decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Kennedy often provided the crucial swing vote in the Court’s major Fifth Amendment takings decisions. Justice Kennedy thus played a pivotal role in developing modern takings law. Emergence of modern takings law...
Knocking on the Supreme Court’s Door
One of the latest casualties out of the Federal Circuit is the May 7, 2018 decision in Love Terminal Partners, L.P., and Virginia Aerospace, L.P. v. United States, No. 16-2276, authored by Judge Dyk, which reversed a decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims...
Stepping Out
Dr. Marta Stekelman retired from the Department of Defense in 2010, having worked for the agency as a medical doctor for 32 years. After retiring, Dr. Stekelman applied for retirement annuity benefits under 5 U.S.C. §§ 8401-79. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)...
Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh: Deference Is Not Abdication
On July 9, 2018, President Trump nominated D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. His twelve-year record on the D.C. Circuit gives us some insight into what we can expect if he is confirmed. His analysis and review of...
Key Property Rights Case to be Heard by Supreme Court in the Upcoming Term
If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate, he will hear arguments on October 3, 2018, in a key property rights case now pending before the Court, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Knick v. Township of Scott, No. 17-647, which involves the...
Is It Wine or Poison?
Gadsden Industrial Park, LLC, brought a taking claim, in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging that EPA took 92,500 cubic yards of kish, slag, and assorted scrap, which are byproducts of the steel-making process. Gadsden alleged that the property was worth up to...