Author: Robert Thomas
Robert H. Thomas is one of the preeminent land use lawyers in Hawaii. He specializes in land use issues including regulatory takings, eminent domain, water rights, and voting rights cases. He has tried cases and appeals in Hawaii, California, and the federal courts. Robert received his LLM, with honors, from Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his JD from the University of Hawaii School of Law where he served as editor of the Law Review. Robert taught law at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, and was an exam grader and screener for the California Committee of Bar Examiners. He currently serves as the Chair of the Condemnation Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section on State & Local Government Law. He is the Hawaii member of Owners’ Counsel of America, a national network of the most experienced eminent domain and property rights lawyers. Membership in OCA is by invitation only, and is limited to a single attorney from each state. Robert is also the Managing Attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation Hawaii Center, a non-profit legal foundation dedicated to protecting property rights and individual liberties. Reach him at rht@hawaiilawyer.com
He is also a frequent speaker on land use and eminent domain issues in Hawaii and nationwide. For a list of upcoming events and speaking engagements.
Website:
Articles by Robert Thomas:
Sunday, May 5th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - Here's the latest decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court applying the "private attorney general" doctrine, which allows a prevailing party to recover fees and costs in certain limited circumstances. In Kaleikini v. Yoshioka, No. SCAP-11-0000611 (May 2, 2013), the court awarded attorneys' fees and costs incurred on appeal to the plaintiffs who prevailed in [...]
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Monday, April 29th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - There isn't a whole lot of eminent domain action in the Ninth Circuit's opinion in Grand Canyon Skywalk Development, LLC v. Sa Nyu Wa, Inc., No. 12-15634 (Apr. 26, 2013), and the issue the court analyzes is the relative jurisictions of the federal and tribal courts, but it still is an interesting [...]
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Sunday, April 21st, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
Earlier this week, the Hawaii State Bar Association's Appellate Law Section put on a one-hour session on federal appeals featuring: Ninth Circuit Judge Richard Clifton Damon Key colleague Mark M. Murakami Clare Connors (Davis Levin) Take advantage of their tips and hints for how to win that next federal appeal. And most of the information [...]
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Monday, April 15th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - In "Why big development is so difficult in Hawaii," Hawaii Businessmagazine tackles an issue first raised by U. Hawaii lawprof David Callies in recently-published law review article (and follow-upinterview), where he labeled the record of the 1993-2010 Hawaii Supreme Court on property issues "appalling" (80% overall success rate for environmental and native Hawaiian litigants, [...]
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Monday, April 1st, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
This morning, the Supreme Court released the order with the results of last Friday's conference, revealing the Court has declined to review Lepak v. City of Irving, No. 12-777 (petition for cert. filed Dec. 21, 2012). We're covering this issue here because as some of you might recall, we represent the plaintiffs in a case challenging the 2012 Hawaii [...]
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Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - Before the title of this post causes you to flee, please bear with us. Oral arguments have just concluded in the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in a fascinating case involving the nature of "Torrens" title and, in a broader sense, the nature of property rights themselves. Disclosure: we filed an amicus [...]
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Monday, March 11th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - The other shoe has dropped, and in "Environmental Lawyers Off Target With Criticism Of Callies," U. Hawaii law professor David Callies responds to and rebuts an earlier op-ed by the Director of the Sierra Club and an Earthjustice lawyer which criticized Professor Callies' recently-published law review article (and follow-up interview) detailing the stunning success rates certain parties such [...]
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Monday, March 11th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - As we noted here, the City of Los Angeles has filed a cert petition asking the Supreme Court to review Lavan v. City of Los Angeles, 693 F.3d 1022 (9th Cir. 2012). In that case, a 2-1 Ninth Circuit panel held that the city could not presume that property owned by homeless people in the Skid [...]
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Monday, March 4th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - A quick one. An op-ed from the newly-appointed Director of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting. In "City followed law in issuing Hao Street development permit," he makes some good points in this piece about building permits for two single-family homes in east Honolulu, points we don't usually see being made [...]
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Monday, March 4th, 2013 in
Guest Commentary
BY ROBERT THOMAS - Last year, the Hawaii Land Use Commission granted district boundary amendment effecting the reclassification of land from the “agricultural” district to the “urban” district for Castle & Cooke Homes' proposed Koa Ridge development, sited on agricultural land on the island of Oahu. Under Hawaii’s statewide zoning, a "boundary amendment" is a [...]
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