Land use litigation is like no other in its intricacy and the plethora of shifting variables involved in each case. What should be included in the administrative record? What time limitations apply? What parties and elements of influence can dramatically alter the case outcome? Before you take on a zoning amendment or permit dispute, take this essential course on the nuts and bolts of land use litigation. Veterans in the field will help you navigate the procedural requirements and share their time-tested tips for avoiding potentially fatal mistakes. Don't miss this opportunity to build your skills. Order today!

1. Fundamentals: The Power to Zone
2. The Development Process in Ohio
3. Ethics: The Lawyer's Obligations During Land Use Disputes
4. Administrative Zoning Disputes
5. Appeals From Administrative Zoning Decisions
6. Declaratory Judgment Actions
7. Intervention
8. Settlement of Land Use Disputes
9. Actions for Damages - 42 U.S.C. 1983
10. Takings Under State Law
11. Current Issues and Questions

1. FUNDAMENTALS: THE POWER TO ZONE
   9:00 - 9:30, Sheldon Berns
1. Enabling Legislation
2. Constitutional Limitations
3. Local Zoning Regulations
4. Comprehensive Planning and Local Zoning
2. THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN OHIO
   9:30 - 10:30, Sheldon Berns
1. Subdivision Approval
2. Impact Fees and Exactions
3. Environmental Approvals
1. Wetlands, Protected Hillsides, Riparian Setbacks, etc.
4. Zoning Amendments – Text and Map Changes
5. Initiative and Referendum
6. Special or Conditional Use Permits
7. Planned Unit Developments (PUD) and “Overlay” Approaches
8. Variances
9. Other Regulation
1. Setbacks, Historical Preservation, Open Space, etc.
3. ETHICS: THE LAWYER'S OBLIGATIONS DURING LAND USE DISPUTES
   10:45 - 11:45, Kenneth A. Kraus
1. Bad Faith
2. Ex Parte Contacts
3. Conflicts of Interest
1. Based on Community Involvement
2. Based on Familial Relationships
3. Based on Financial Interests
4. Bias and Prejudgment
4. ADMINISTRATIVE ZONING DISPUTES
   11:45 - 12:15, Gary F. Werner
1. Jurisdiction of the Board of Zoning Appeals
2. Building the Record
3. Use of Experts
4. Burden of Proof
5. Potential Relief
5. APPEALS FROM ADMINISTRATIVE ZONING DECISIONS
   1:15 - 1:40, Gary F. Werner
1. Procedural Requirements
2. Components of an Effective Appeal
3. Standard at the Common Pleas Review
4. Standard at the Subsequent Appellate Review
6. DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ACTIONS
   1:40 - 2:10, Gary F. Werner
1. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies
2. Proper Parties
3. Issue for Determination by the Court
4. Evidence and Hearing
5. Relief Which Can Be Granted
7. INTERVENTION
   2:10 - 2:20, Gary F. Werner
1. Intervention as of Right
2. Permissive Intervention
8. SETTLEMENT OF LAND USE DISPUTES
   2:20 - 2:30, Gary F. Werner
1. Township Zoning Litigation: R.C. 505.07
2. Municipal Zoning Litigation
9. ACTIONS FOR DAMAGES—42 U.S.C. 1983
   2:45 - 3:45, Benjamin J. Ockner
1. 42 U.S.C. 1983 Actions (“Section 1983”)
1. Overview
2. Jurisdiction and Abstention
3. Elements of Claim and Required Allegations
4. Parties Who May Sue and Be Sued
5. Damages (Compensatory & Punitive) and Attorneys' Fees
6. Statute of Limitations
2. Denial of Procedural Due Process
3. Denial of Substantive Due Process
4. Denial of Equal Protection
5. Taking of Property Without Just Compensation
1. Physical Takes
2. Regulatory Takes (Total and Penn Central )
3. Permanent and Temporary Takes
4. Exhaustion of State Remedies
10. TAKINGS UNDER STATE LAW
    3:45 - 4:00, Benjamin J. Ockner
1. Physical Takes
2. Regulatory Takes (“Inverse Condemnation”)
3. Statute of Limitations
4. Remedy—Mandamus
11. CURRENT ISSUES AND QUESTIONS
    4:00 - 4:30, Sheldon Berns, Benjamin J. Ockner and Gary F. Werner
1. Regionalism
2. Environmentalism
3. Questions

SHELDON BERNS is a managing member of Berns, Ockner & Greenberger, LLC, where his practice is concentrated in zoning and land use law, and real estate and construction law. Mr. Berns has successfully litigated several zoning and land use cases in the Ohio Supreme Court. He has represented numerous local and national property owners and developers regarding real estate, zoning and land use issues throughout Ohio, and has written and lectured extensively on zoning and land use issues. Mr. Berns is a life member of the 8th Judicial Conference and a member of the Cleveland Commercial and Construction Panels of the American Arbitration Association. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. 2nd and 6th Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Court of Claims and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Berns has been a member of the Cuyahoga County Republican Executive Committee since 1963 and was a Beachwood City Council member (1971-77). He belongs to the Cleveland, Ohio State and American bar associations, where he participates in the litigation; construction; and urban, state and local government law sections. A summa cum laude graduate of The Ohio State University, Mr. Berns earned his LL.B. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law where he was Order of the Coif and editor of the Case Western Reserve University Law Review. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Ohio Super Lawyers and Northeast Ohio's Leadings Lawyers.

KENNETH A. KRAUS has been the in-house law director for the City of Strongsville, Ohio for over eight years, handling and supervising all legal matters for the city. Previously, Mr. Kraus was part-time assistant law director and special counsel for Beachwood, Ohio, after serving as its president of council. He also has served as an assistant U.S. Attorney and a federal law clerk. Mr. Kraus recently was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to chair its board on the unauthorized practice of law, and was elected as vice-president of the Cuyahoga County Law Directors' Association. Mr. Kraus earned his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Michigan and has lectured on ethics to various land use groups.

BENJAMIN J. OCKNER is a managing member for Berns, Ockner & Greenberger, LLC, where his practice focuses primarily on zoning, land use and real estate and business litigation. He has been instrumental in obtaining successful outcomes in several major zoning and land use cases in the Ohio Supreme Court. Mr. Ockner has represented numerous local and national property owners and developers regarding zoning and land use issues throughout Ohio. He also has represented several national telecommunications companies in the deployment of their networks in Ohio. Mr. Ockner has written and lectured extensively on zoning and land use issues. His business litigation practice includes non-competition, trade secret, employment and commercial matters. Mr. Ockner was a founding member of the Business Litigation Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association's Litigation Section, and served as the program chairman for the civil litigation portion of the Cleveland Bar Association's Practice and Procedure Clinic for four years. In addition to being admitted to practice law in the state of Ohio, Mr. Ockner is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the United States Tax Court, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. He earned his Bachelor's Degree from Miami University and his J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

GARY F. WERNER is a member of the Beachwood law firm of Berns Ockner & Greenberger, LLC, where his practice concentrates on zoning, planning, eminent domain, municipal and commercial law, and business transactions. He earned his B.A, summa cum laude, from the University of California at Los Angeles, his J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and is a Phi Beta Kappa member. Mr. Werner is admitted to practice in the state of California and the state of Ohio, before the Federal District Courts for the Central District of California and the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, and before the 6th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. He is a member of the American, Medina County, and Cleveland bar associations and the Medina County Home Builder's Association. Mr. Werner is the former vice mayor and Ward 1 councilman for the City of Brunswick, Ohio, and is currently a councilman-at-large there. He served as chair of council's Economic Development and Planning & Zoning Committees, as council's representative to the city's planning commission, and was a member of Brunswick's Board of Zoning Appeals. Mr. Werner has presented regularly on topics which include regulatory takings, township zoning, subdivision regulations, mechanic's liens, and the Ohio Marketable Title Act.

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