How property owners harmed by the riots could sue the negligent governments that allowed the damage
Article by Marie Richter in "The American Thinker":
Property
owners who have suffered great losses in the course of recent riots and
chaos in American cities should be able to sue for just compensation.
It is called inverse condemnation which is the flip-side of eminent
domain. Property rights are a cornerstone of the American system and
are protected constitutionally from government overreach. The Fifth
and Fourteenth Amendments include Due Process Clauses and the Takings
Clause, which are the bedrock of constitutionally protected private
property rights, wherein we are not to be “deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law” … “nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Government
sets forth regulations (rules and directives) to further the public
interest. If the regulation results in full or partial economic loss to
private property, the owner can file an inverse condemnation claim in
order to pursue just compensation from the government. This falls under
the domain of a regulatory taking. In
takings cases, the balancing test between the public benefit and burden
placed on the individual private property owner is the focal point of
court challenges. Just compensation by the government is required if
the regulation is deemed as having gone too far.
In
U.S. communities adversely affected by the unrest, riots, and increased
crime, some property owners are carrying a disproportionate burden of
the fallout, which is a consequence of public actions. There is a nexus
between the rules and directives of elected officials in these areas
and the promulgation of riots and increased crime. Social justice is
the public purpose used to justify the defund-the-police actions and
stand-down police orders. Even the right to mass protest in support of
the social-justice-public-purpose agenda is overtly endorsed by many of
these public officials, while virtually all other activities are limited
or eliminated during the pandemic lock downs.
Takings
law has a complex history and terrain. Yet the underlying truth in
these tumultuous times is the rule of law is under assault, and as a
result private property has been destroyed and devalued. The U.S.
Constitution sets forth specific rights and protections, and our elected
officials are the sworn stewards of ensuring this constitutional
shelter weathers the storms of danger and attack on the well-being of
the citizenry. When elected officials ignore the safeguards necessary
for upholding these rights, or even worse, promote antithetical
measures, diminution of private property value and erosion of individual
rights abounds.
Devastated
property owners should have an avenue of recourse beyond battening down
the hatches hoping to ride out the storm. Justice could mean just
compensation through inverse condemnation.
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