Federal Takings Blog

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...

Federal appeal stems from pipeline company’s refusal to fully compensate the landowner under Florida law, including payment of attorney fees. In Sabal Trail Transmission v. 18.27 Acres, the pipeline company only offered to pay the Thomas family a fraction of the value of the property that a jury later determined the Thomas family’s property was...

About 200 Sarasota landowners whose property was taken for the development of the northern extension of the Legacy Trail public recreational rail-trail filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims asking the court to hold the federal government liable for taking their land without paying them compensation.  The motion was filed by Thor...

Another group of landowners on the Sawyer Road to Ashton Road segment of the Legacy Trail have filed a lawsuit for compensation for their property.  I filed this lawsuit last month and the case was assigned to Judge Meyers.  A copy of the lawsuit (which also provides a helpful background and the more recent developments with Sarasota County) is...

As described in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s front-page story, Sarasota residents living along the Legacy Trail are enduring painful and unnecessary hardships due to the federal government’s taking of their land and the county’s construction of the Legacy Trail.  Thor Hearne and True North Law represent hundreds of these affected landowners, and...