New article on the 2013 Takings Clause triplets

October 07, 2014 | By JAMES BURLING

My article on the 2013 Takings Clause cases has been published by William & Mary Law School’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal.  Here’s a copy of The 2013 Takings Triplets: From Exactions to Flooding to Raisin Seizures–Implications for Litigators, 3 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal, 163 (2014).  Here’s an excerpt from the conclusion:

All governments now must do what some have been doing for a long time: follow the rules when a permit is denied and not treat monetary exactions as a means of evasion, compensate people for damages caused by foreseeable government flooding, and let the courts hear allegations of regulatory takings.

Koontz is particularly instructive. It is not too much to require government agencies to prove the necessity and scope of conditions that are imposed as part of the development process. Landowners are not ATM machines or magic lamps to be rubbed by local planners. Many communities have many wishes for new and better public infrastructure. But these wishes must be fulfilled by the taxpayers, not just those who happen to be standing in line at the permit office.