Here's the latest in a case we've been following.
This is Fane Lozman. You know his name. Yes, the guy who has taken on the City of Riviera Beach, Florida twice at the Supreme Court, and is now coming back for a third shot on goal. Houseboat guy. Public hearing gadfly guy. And now, maybe the ripeness guy.
Lozman has filed a cert petition asking the Court to review the Eleventh Circuit's opinion which dismissed his regulatory takings claim as unripe.
Here's the Questions Presented:
Fane Lozman has a contentious relationship with the City of Riviera Beach, Florida. The City’s mistreatment of Mr. Lozman has twice required this Court’s intervention. See Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, 568 U.S. 115 (2013); Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, 585 U.S. 87 (2018).In this third chapter, Mr. Lozman was forced to sue the City because its land-use restrictions have de prived his waterfront property of all economically ben eficial use, causing a taking under Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 (1992). The controlling City ordinance is clear: He can use this property for “[p]rivate residential fishing or viewing plat- forms” and small “docks for non-motorized boats,” and nothing else. Yet the Eleventh Circuit held Mr. Lozman’s Lucas claim unripe. In the court’s view, because these scant private uses are permissible, Mr. Lozman must apply to the City for a “final decision” on how he can use his property.The questions presented are:1. Whether a claim that a local ordinance effected a regulatory taking upon enactment remains unripe until the landowner asks the local government for permission to develop his property in ways the ordinance plainly prohibits.2. Whether a regulation that forbids any economically beneficial use causes a taking under Lucas, regardless of the property’s residual value
The petition has garnered a ton of amicus support.
The cert-stage briefing isn't quite done yet, with (presumably) Lozman's reply on the way. Then we see where this one goes.
Stay tuned.
