Marzulla Law Blog
Historic NYC Bookstore Battles Landmark Designation
Why would New York City’s Strand, one of the world’s largest and most venerable independent bookstores, oppose city designation as a historic landmark? According to the Strand’s owner, this designation will add a lot of municipal red tape that may sink her business....
Third-Party Beneficiary & Implied-In-Fact Contracts
In Fox Logistics & Construction Co. v. United States, No. 18-139C (September 25, 2019), the plaintiff, a subcontractor, alleged that the Government had breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing under an Air Force contract for construction of the Hindand Air...
The Common Fund Doctrine Applies in the Court of Federal Claims
Kane County, Utah v. United States, Nos. 17-739C; 17-1991C (September 25, 2019), is a class action brought in the Court of Federal Claims by two subclasses of local government entities claiming that the federal government owed them additional payments under the...
Bump-Stock Guns and Takings Jurisprudence: An Explosive Combination
In the recent Court of Federal Claims decision, McCutchen v. United States, No. 18-1965C (September 23, 2019), the Court rejected a taking challenge to a regulation promulgated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) that...
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...