The 14th annual conference on litigating takings challenges to land use and environmental regulations

This conference explores the regulatory takings issue as it relates to land use and environmental regulation. The conference brings together a diverse group of leading scholars and experienced practitioners to discuss cutting-edge issues raised by recent decisions and pending court cases.

Some of the topics to be discussed include takings claims generated by major flooding events in the Mississippi River, including Hurricane Katrina and the Mississippi floods of 2011, the takings issues raised by the threat of climate change, the tension between traditional notions of public rights in water resources and modern takings cases arising from regulation of water uses, questions about the proper application of Penn Central, and the problem of so-called "unsuccessful exactions."

Key Questions to be Addressed 

- Is the government liable for a taking for causing or contributing to the flooding of private lands?
- Does a lack of “reasonable investment-backed expectations” bar a taking claim?
- Can courts and litigators make sense of the notoriously muddy Penn Central analysis?
- What novel and difficult takings problems is climate change likely to produce?
- How do private rights in land and water differ, and what are the implications of these differences for takings litigation?

Specific topics will include:

• Takings Claims and Flooding in the Mississippi River Basin
- The per se rule for permanent inundations
- Floodway easements and their limitations
- Potential government liability for exacerbating flood risks

• Takings Law and Climate Change
- Regulating coastal development in the era of sea level rise
- Renewable energy development and transmission line siting
- Takings claims based on regulation of shrinking water supplies