The US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging when someone can seek compensation in federal court for property that’s damaged by a state public works project.
In an order on Friday, the justices said they would review an appeal from landowners in Texas who sued the state after a highway project that was done to create an evacuation route caused their properties to flood during Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 and Tropical Storm Imelda in September 2019.
The landowners argued the flooding of their lands worked as a government taking under Fifth Amendment and they should be paid “just compensation,” which is required under the Takings Clause when private property is taken for public use.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause doesn’t provide a right of action for claims against a state, and that it’s up to Congress to give federal courts the authority to order states to pay damages.
The case is Devillier v.Texas, U.S., No. 22-913, 9/29/23.
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