Originally published in the November/December 2015 edition of The Nebraska Lawyer. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. Hopefully, this article will be preaching to the choir. In a perfect world (in a real estate practice), I would assist clients with buying and selling real […]
Dirt Alert
Mandatory Reporting Requirements for Owners of Rent-Restricted Housing Projects Due October 1, 2015
On September 17, 2015, the Nebraska Rent Restricted Housing Projects Valuation Committee (the “Committee”) met and approved the Section 42 – Income and Expense Reporting Form (the “Form”) that owners of rent-restricted housing projects will use to report income and expenses associated with their projects. All owners of rent-restricted housing […]
EPA’s Clean Water Rule Defines “Waters of the United States,” Expanding the Scope of the Clean Water Act
The EPA started enforcing the Clean Water Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” (the “Rule”) in some states on August 28, 2015. The Clean Water Act (the “Act”) applies to “navigable waters,” which the Act defines as “the waters of the United States, including territorial seas.” The Rule […]
Nebraska Court of Appeals Holds a Landowner Could Divert The Flow of Ground Water, if Necessary and Reasonable Under All the Circumstances
Kobza v. Bowers, 23 Neb. App. 118 (2015). The Kobzas (“Kobza”) and Bowerses (“Bowers”) owned adjacent residential lots, and a drainage way passed through the properties. Kobza’s basement flooded, and he installed a dewatering well with an outflow pipe connected to another pipe running underneath the Bowers property, discharging water […]
Nebraska Supreme Court Upholds a Sarpy County Zoning Ordinance That Exempts Property Owners Who Filed a Plat Prior to the Adoption of the Ordinance
Dowd Grain Co. v. Sarpy Cnty., 291 Neb. 620 (2015). The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an overlay zoning ordinance that exempts properties platted before the effective date of the ordinance. In doing so, the court rejected a non-exempt landowner’s claim that the ordinance is unconstitutional. In March […]

