Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following for what seems like forever (and yes, it is one of ours, so we won’t be commenting).
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court without comment denied the City of Marathon, Florida’s cert petition, which asked the Court to review an en banc opinion of the Florida District Court of Appeals which held that the City’s downzoning of Shands Key (above) effected a Lucas taking as a deprivation of economically beneficial uses, notwithstanding that the property might (at least theoretically) be sold to a third party who could “donate” the land to the city in return for some very watered-down transferable development rights on the buyer’s other property.
The Florida Supreme Court declined discretionary review, after which the City filed its cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, with this Question Presented:
Whether a taking has occurred under the categorical rule announced by this Court in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 (1992), even though the regulated property retains significant market value for both its transferable development rights and recreational uses.
Cert denied doesn’t mean the Supreme Court is necessarily endorsing the lower court opinion, of course. But it does mean that the City’s path to overturn that opinion is terminated, and the next step is for the case to return to the Monroe County trial court for a determination of the just compensation owed for the regulatory taking. Stay tuned for more on that.
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, City of Marathon v. Shands, No. 25-___ (U.S. May 1, 2026)