Featured Case

PLF Challenges Uncompensated Takings In the Everglades

480.00 Acres of Land v. United States

Contact: James S. Burling

Status: On January, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Petition for Writ of Certiorari.

Summary:
The federal government sought to condemn property in the Everglades for a national park expansion. Prior to condemning the property, the federal government exerted pressure on local government authorities to downzone the property it wanted to take. While the zoning changes were enacted for purportedly legitimate reasons, the true purpose was to drive down the value of the property to reduce government payments of just compensation.

Furthermore, once the government instituted the federal land commission process designed to assign values to the taken property, the government manipulated the process in order to reduce payments. It dismissed all cases against parties represented by counsel, in order to deal with unrepresented owners first. After establishing low compensation precedents against these owners, it then reinstituted the cases against owners with attorneys, and argued that this precedent should apply in later cases as well, despite owner evidence to the contrary.

In filing a petition for certiorari on behalf of aggrieved property owners, PLF argues that the Supreme Court should hear the case to establish uniformity in lower courts on the proper standards for judging questions of federal takings, and to ensure property owners are safeguarded against government manipulation of the condemnation process.