"If you break it, you buy it" is a simple rule that anyone who has shopped at a Pottery Barn probably already knows. It means that if you cause damage to someone else's property, you are responsible for paying for that damage. And yet, the state of Texas argues that this basic tenet does not apply to state governments when they take private property for public use. Unfortunately, in direct defiance of decades of Supreme Court precedent, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and now the Institute for Justice (IJ) is helping a fourth-generation family farm appeal their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

"There is not an asterisk next to the Fifth Amendment that says the government doesn't have to pay just compensation if it doesn't want to," said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Robert McNamara. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed Americans' right to just compensation is an inherent part of the Constitution. It cannot be ignored or circumvented by the government or the courts."

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Case Details

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Case Name

Devillier v. State of Texas

Date Filed

March 17, 2023