Faith Rivers James presents annual report on Real Property case law

Elon Law Professor Faith Rivers James[/caption]At the May 15-16 meeting, Rivers James reviewed several noteworthy property cases decided in the past year, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, which established that denial of a land use permit and requirement to pay money will trigger a regulatory takings analysis under the Nollan-Dolan rules for exactions.

Rives James also analyzed the 4 Circuit opinion and Oral Arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Waldburger v. CTS Corporation. In this case, a group of landowners in Ashville, N.C., are pursuing a nuisance claim from alleged solvent contamination of land where CTS operated a plant through 1985. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether the federal CERLA statute provision tolling a statute of limitations preempts North Carolina’s 10 year statute of repose, which CTS and the U.S. Government claim bars recovery for the plaintiffs’ claims 25 years after CTS committed any acts on the property. 

Rives James reviewed Young v. Young, wherein a cotenant alleged adverse possession of a piece of real property in Transylvania County by constructive ouster of his brother and co-tenant. The Plaintiff alleged that he maintained the property, paid the taxes, while the Defendant did not pay any taxes or seek possession of land. Rivers James also summarized the Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act, which institutes commercially reasonable procedures for co-tenant buyout and partition actions. In addition, Rivers James reviewed two cases from Guilford County, Guilford County ex. rel. Thigpen v. Lender Processing Servs., and McMillian v. Ryan Jackson Properties, LLC.

More information about Elon Law Professor Faith Rivers James is available here.