Real estate industry welcomes Supreme Court's correction of Fifth Circuit decision threatening property rights

Client(s) National Association of REALTORS®, American Property Owners Alliance, Texas REALTORS®

Jones Day filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the real estate industry in a challenge to the Fifth Circuit’s ruling that property owners could not sue Texas for flooding their land because no federal cause of action covered their case. The real estate industry supported the property owners’ argument that the Constitution itself provides a right to sue for just compensation for government takings. The brief provided historical background on just compensation suits and explained why this tradition was distinct from “implied rights of action” for damages under other constitutional provisions.

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court sided with the property owners. After concluding that Texas law provided the property owners with a cause of action to assert a takings claim, the Court vacated the Fifth Circuit’s decision and remanded the case to allow the property owners to pursue their rights. Although the Court left open the question whether the Takings Clause itself provides a cause of action, it unanimously reversed an aberrant lower court decision that threatened property owners’ rights to just compensation.

Devillier v. Texas, No. 22-913 (U.S.)