Manatt appellate senior counsel Michael Berger authored an article for Daily Journal on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Knick v. Township of Scott, which opened the federal courthouse doors for property owners with 5th Amendment takings claims. In particular, Berger discusses how this ruling was circumvented by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its recent decision to abstain from hearing EHOF Lakeside II, LLC v. Riverside County Transp. Com., a federal takings case that warranted federal court adjudication under the Knick decision. He notes that the 9th Circuit relied on cases decided in 1983 and 1985 to decide “all cases concerning land use involve a "sensitive area of state law" that the federal courts should shy away from.” However, Berger continues that, “it may well have been true that in that early, formative part of the development of takings law that the courts would shy away from getting too deeply involved with matters of local planning law. But we are several decades and numerous Supreme Court decisions beyond that now.”
Read the article here.