Federal Takings Blog

On February 3rd, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in favor of the property owners – the Thomas family – in Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC v. 18.27 Acres of Land in Levy County, et al. (Sabal Trail v. Thomas Family).  The court’s ruling was a total win for the landowners and will help landowners in natural gas pipeline...

True North Law filed a lawsuit on behalf of landowners whose property the federal government took for the Great Redwood Trail.  The lawsuit was filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington DC.  The lawsuit is available here. The complaint provides an extensively researched history of the land the federal government took for...

On November 30, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Wilkins v. United States, a lawsuit brought by private property owners in Montana against the federal government.  True North Law’s Steve Davis breaks down the case in this article published in the American Bar Association’s Preview magazine.  Steve explains how a dispute about a...

True North Law represents hundreds of Sarasota, Florida, landowners in three lawsuits filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.  In the most recently-filed lawsuit, Barron, et al. v. United States, Thor Hearne has filed a comprehensive motion for summary judgment asking the court to hold the government liable for taking 18 landowners’ property...

This week, the Federal Circuit held oral argument in the appeal of an important Fifth Amendment taking case where the federal government took private landowners’ property in Missouri for a public recreational rail-trail.  The lower court erroneously held that, even though the railroad had only an easement across the landowners’ property (instead...

On October 3, the Supreme Court will begin its new term by hearing an important property rights case, Sackett v. EPA.  True North Law’s Steve Davis breaks down the case in this article published in the American Bar Association’s Supreme Court Preview magazine.  Steve explains how the Sackett family has had to battle the federal government through...

True North’s amicus brief asks the Court to take up and overturn the decision of the Fifth Circuit, which wrongly held the government doesn’t need to compensate landowners unless and until the legislature appropriates the compensation. True North Law filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf property rights advocacy groups,...

Following a trial in Atlanta, Georgia, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has issued its decision awarding the plaintiff-landowners the full value of their property taken by the federal government for the creation of a recreational rail-trail across their properties. “This is a sweeping win and total vindication for these landowners,” said Thor...