The National Law Journal has an interesting report on the rising costs of the federal “Rails-to-Trails” program. What seemed like a neat way to create hiking and biking trails has spawned substantial amounts of litigation by landowners who assert the federal government cannot convert abandoned railroad easements to other uses without paying compensation. According to the […]
Archive | Regulatory Takings
Rick Hills on Koontz, Property Rights, and Federalism
NYU law professor Rick Hills isn’t nearly as pleased with the Supreme Court’s important property rights decision in Koontz as I am. He objects to the result primarily on federalism grounds. In Rick’s view, federal courts should not enforce significant Takings Clause constraints on state land use policies because they can’t effectively with the diversity […]
Thoughts on the Koontz Takings Clause Case
Here are some early reflections on Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, the important Takings Clause case the Supreme Court decided today. As discussed more fully here, the case involved a situation where Coy Koontz, a Florida property owner, was refused a permit to develop his land by a government agency, unless he […]
Property Owner Wins Important Takings Case
In a major Supreme Court victory for property rights, the Supreme Court ruled against the government in Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, an important Takings Clause case that I described here here. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion for a 5-4 Court split along ideological lines. This was an unexpected outcome because […]
Landowners Win in Koontz
The Supreme Court decided in Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District that mitigation requirements imposed on land-use permits are subject to the nexus and proportionality requirements of Nollan and Dolan. The decision was 5-4, and probably represents the most significant property rights decision in several years. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion. Justice […]
Still Waiting for the Koontz Decision
Among the many important decisions not issued by the Supreme Court this week, it’s easy to forget about Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, which I described here. As co-blogger Jonathan Adler wrote in January, “this could be a very important case — easily the most important property rights case heard by the […]
A Modest But Potentially Significant Supreme Court Victory for Property Rights
By Ilya Somin on June 10, 2013 7:50 pm in Just Compensation Clause, Property Rights, Regulatory Takings
To the disappointment of court-watchers, the Supreme Court did not announce any high-profile decisions today. But it did issue a unanimous opinion in Horne v. Department of Agriculture, a notable Takings Clause property rights case. The Hornes are California raisin farmers seeking to challenge the constitutionality of a provision of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act […]
Regulatory Takings and “Lochnerism”: An Observation
By Jonathan H. Adler on February 28, 2013 9:08 am in Due Process Clause Property Rights, Property Rights, Regulatory Takings, Uncategorized
It is often argued that regulatory takings doctrine is a form of “Lochnerism” and a revival of “substantive due process” constraints on economic regulation. So, for instance, in his Dolan v. Tigard dissent, Justice Stevens traces the history of the doctrine to the Lochner period and finds the roots of regulatory takings doctrine in late-19th century substantive due […]
Koontz Oral Argument
SCOTUSBlog’s Lyle Denniston reports that oral argument did not appear to go very well for the landowners in Koontz v. St. Johns River Management Authority. Something really big, and potentially decisive, happened to a major new property rights case between the time the Supreme Court took it on, and Tuesday’s argument by lawyers before the […]
Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 14, 2013 10:52 pm in Property Rights, Regulatory Takings, Supreme Court
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a potentially important takings case, Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District. In this case, a landowner is challenging the state’s refusal to grant a permit to develop wetlands unless the landowner agreed to various conditions, including the performance of off-site mitigation. When the landowner […]
Supreme Court Rules That Temporary Government-Induced Flooding of Private Property Can Qualify as a Taking
Today, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States. The case involved a claim by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission that the federal government’s repeated deliberate flooding of its property between 1993 and 2000 constituted a taking requiring compensation under the Fifth Amendment, which mandates that […]
Local Government Forces Homeowners to Cut Down Trees so that Retired Baseball Star John Olerud Would Have a Better View of the Seattle Skyline from his House
Retired baseball All Star John Olerud has persuaded the Clyde Hill, Washington Board of Adjustment to force his neighbors to chop down two valuable trees on their property so that he will have a better view of the Seattle skyline: Nine years after he won his third Gold Glove as a Seattle Mariners first baseman, […]
Supreme Court Decides to Hear Important Regulatory Takings Case
The Supreme Court has just decided to hear an important regulatory takings case, St. Johns River Waste Management District v. Koontz. Paul Beard of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the property owner, has a helpful summary of the case: Coy A. Koontz wants to develop commercial land, most of which lies within a […]
Today’s Oral Argument in Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States
The transcript of today’s oral argument in the important Supreme Court takings case of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States is now available here. I discussed the issues in the case in this post. Legal reporter Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire interprets the oral argument as going badly for the federal government: A majority […]
Tomorrow’s Important Takings Case Before the Supreme Court
Although it may be lost in the shuffle of more highly publicized cases, tomorrow the Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States, the most important regulatory takings case in a long time. In this case, the US Army Corps of Engineers inflicted extensive damage on a […]