Opinion ID: 718642
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Takings/Inverse Condemnation Claims

Text: 14 In Williamson County Regional Planning Comm'n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172, 105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985), the Supreme Court ruled that if a state provides adequate procedures for seeking just compensation, a property owner cannot state a claim in federal court under the Fifth Amendment until he has used these procedures and been denied just compensation. Id., 473 U.S. at 195, 105 S.Ct. at 3121; see also Yee v. City of Escondido, Cal., 503 U.S. 519, 533-34, 112 S.Ct. 1522, 1531-32, 118 L.Ed.2d 153 (1992) (claim that municipal ordinance as applied effected regulatory taking would be unripe if claimant had not sought state redress, citing Williamson County, 473 U.S. at 186-97, 105 S.Ct. at 3116-22). This court has applied this ripeness doctrine. DeHart v. Town of Austin, 39 F.3d 718, 724 (7th Cir.1994) (premature to decide whether ordinance prohibiting possession of wild animals deprived wild animal business owner of alleged constitutionally protected property interests without due process; suit for excessive regulation is for inverse condemnation, which belongs first in state court, citing inter alia Williamson County, 473 U.S. at 195-96, 105 S.Ct. at 3121-22); River Park, Inc. v. City of Highland Park, 23 F.3d 164, 167 (7th Cir.1994) (property owner's Illinois common law rights in zoning classification dispute meant that suit for inverse condemnation belonged in state court, citing Williamson County, 473 U.S. at 195-96, 105 S.Ct. at 3121-22); Estate of Himelstein v. City of Fort Wayne, Ind., 898 F.2d 573, 575-578 (7th Cir.1990) (property owner's takings claim for city council's failure to issue building permit after property had allegedly been rezoned not ripe for review where owner had not brought inverse condemnation action in state court and not shown state inverse condemnation procedure was unavailable or inadequate). [A] landowner cannot complain that his constitutional right [to just compensation for a taking] has been denied until he exhausts his remedies for obtaining a compensation award or equivalent relief from the state. Gamble v. Eau Claire County, 5 F.3d 285, 286 (7th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1096, 127 L.Ed.2d 410 (1994). 15 Illinois law provides a judicially-created remedy of inverse condemnation for property owners aggrieved by municipal legislation. Plaintiffs admit this. This admission acknowledges that federal court is not the proper venue for plaintiffs' takings claims. Only upon completion of existing state procedures and denial of just compensation may plaintiffs properly claim a taking without just compensation in federal court. Until then [plaintiffs] cannot know whether [they] have suffered the only type of harm for which the just-compensation provision of the Constitution entitles [them] to a remedy. Gamble, 5 F.3d at 286. Thus, the district court correctly dismissed plaintiffs' takings claims as unripe. 16 The exhaustion requirement of Williamson County applies whether plaintiffs claim an uncompensated taking, inverse condemnation, or due process violation. 2 See Williamson County, 473 U.S. at 194-95, 199-200, 105 S.Ct. at 3120-21, 3123-24 (takings and due process claims); River Park, 23 F.3d at 167 (substantive or procedural due process claim); Gamble, 5 F.3d at 286 (takings claims); Himelstein, 898 F.2d at 576 (takings and substantive due process claims). That plaintiffs have sued for inverse condemnation with a reference to due process, whether substantive or procedural, therefore does not alter our analysis. A person contending that state or local regulation of the use of land has gone overboard must repair to state court. River Park, 23 F.3d at 167. Hager and Baker must first pursue their claims, whether in the form of a takings challenge or a due process claim, in Illinois state court.