PLF to Supreme Court: States should be held accountable for property takings in federal courts

 Last Friday, Pacific Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief in DeVillier v. State of Texas, arguing that the courts don’t need Congress’s permission to enforce the right to just compensation when the government takes property. The Constitution expressly recognizes the right to private property, and also defines the legal remedy when the government interferes with that right.

“The Fifth Amendment requires just compensation when the government takes private property, and the Fourteenth Amendment expressly limits the power of the states,” said Robert Thomas, director of Property Rights Litigation at Pacific Legal Foundation. “There is no exception insulating states from the requirement to justly compensate owners whose property the state takes. The plain text of the Constitution itself supplies the rule for how the right is protected, and how it is enforced. If a state takes private property, it must provide compensation. The Supreme Court has said so — many times.”

Richie Devillier and his family have been farming their land in Winnie, Texas, for generations. But in the early 2000s, the Texas Department of Transportation raised a nearby highway’s elevation during renovations — effectively creating a dam against the Devilliers’s property.

Now, their property suffers massive flooding during major storms. When Hurricane Harvey hit, their property was essentially turned into a lake. Several cows and horses drowned, and their home, vehicles, and farming equipment were irreparably damaged.

In 2020, the Devilliers took the State of Texas to court, arguing that they are entitled to compensation for the damage caused to their property by the highway’s renovations. The case eventually reached the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that property owners cannot bring a takings claim against a state in federal court.

But fortunately, on September 29, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. DeVillier v. State of Texas will be argued by the Institute for Justice on January 16, 2024.