42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Civil Rights

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following for a long time. In Baker v. City of McKinney, No. 25-40396 (May 22, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit, in an unsigned per curiam opinion approved of the property owner’s “reelection of remedy” to ask for relief under the Texas Constitution, after the original section 1983 just compensation claim was rejected.
Continue Reading Uno Reverse! CA5 Approves State Takings Remedy After Fifth Amendment Failed

Here’s the latest (a development we predicted) in a case we’ve been following. In this Order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit confirmed that it will be rehearing the Fulton case en banc. As you recall, last year a 2-1 panel of the court held that an owner whose property has been taken does not need Congress to have created a cause of action, and may directly sue for just compensation under the constitution. That’s right, the “self-executing just compensation” issue that the Supreme Court dodged in DeVillier.
Continue Reading En Banc CA11 To Consider Self-Executing Just Compensation

Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following. After a loss at the Eighth Circuit, the property owners have filed a cert petition.

This is the case where court concluded that the city’s issuance of a closure order to reVamped after the business ended up on the city’s “blighted list” was not a regulatory taking. The city had issued citations for various code violations, sent compliance orders, and was apparently reacting to a fire on the premises.
Continue Reading New Cert Petition: Invoking “Police Power” Alone Doesn’t Avoid Takings

The latest from the lawyers who brought you Knick v. Township of Scott. A new cert petition challenging the Eleventh Circuit’s conclusion that a property owner asserting a due process violation must effectively exhaust state judicial remedies.
Continue Reading New Cert Petition (Ours): Must A Due Process Claimant Exhaust State Remedies?

Check out a newly-published law review article by lawprof Timothy Harris, “The Contracts Clause Can be Enforced via Section 1983, Period: The Nonexistent Circuit Court ‘Split’,” 78 SMU L. Rev. Forum 106 (2025).

The article delves into the issue of whether 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is the cause of action to bring

There’s not a lot of new territory forged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Pena v. City of Los Angeles, No. 24-2422 (Nov. 4, 2025), holding that the city could not be liable for a taking after SWAT officers severely damaged a home in the course of

In Witherspoon v. Ince, No. 24-6194 (Oct. 9, 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a property owner who alleged that Oklahoma’s system of private takings — where the state authorizes private parties to use eminent domain to take what looks like an easement by necessity over a neighbor’s

A short one (unpublished) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in a Tyler taking case (an issue that seems like it is on a lot of courts’ minds right now).

In Wayside Church v. Van Buren County, No. 24-1598 (Oct. 6, 2025), the court affirmed the district court’s certification of

Here’s the cert petition which we filed recently. We won’t be saying much about this one because it is one of ours. 

But here’s the Question Presented, which pretty much says it all:

The City of Lathrup Village, Michigan, prohibits leasing commercial property without a license. But the City will not issue a license unless

Here’s a recent cert petition which asks the Supreme Court to take up the case of a small property owner in West Hollywood, California, whose case was dismissed when he asked “[h]ow far can a city expand rent control to advance general socioeconomic policies before crossing constitutional property protections?” Pet. at 3. 

Here are the