Opinion ID: 770420
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The cross-appeal--private taking

Text: 48 The county defendants are, of course, correct when they point out that a taking need not benefit a large number of people in order for the taking to be considered one for a public purpose. See Rindge Co. v. County of Los Angeles, 262 U.S. 700, 707 (1923) (It is not essential that the entire community, nor even any considerable portion, should directly enjoy or participate in an improvement in order to constitute a public use.). Their argument, however, proves too much. If a taking had to be considered one for a public use simply by virtue of the fact that it benefits at least one other person (i.e., Hassell), there would be little left to the prohibition against private-use takings. 49 The county defendants' assertion that the only conceivable way Carter County could attempt a 'private' taking would be to condemn Queen Nave Road for . . . Hassell's exclusive use and then somehow use the county's authority to exclude others from using the road is unsupported by any authority and clearly meritless. As noted above, one of the most important incidents of private ownership of property is the right to exclude others. The county defendants' refusal to abandon Carter County's claim of ownership to the driveway has totally stripped Mary Nave's estate of that property interest. As things now stand, the Naves must tolerate not only Hassell's presence on the driveway, but also the presence of any other member of the general public. The county defendants' argument that they might have violated Hassell's substantive due process rights if they had not maintain[ed] the status quo by reasserting county ownership is equally unavailing. Not surprisingly, they do not mention what substantive due process rights of Hassell's they are referring to. 50 As previously stated, the standard for demonstrating a taking to be one for a public use is an extremely low one, and it is not completely outside the range of possibilitythat the county defendants will meet this standard at trial. But they have not done so yet. Their only asserted justification so far boils down to an argument that even if they knew that the listing of the driveway as a county road was a mistake, Mary Nave's neighbor finds it convenient to use the driveway, so Carter County will refuse to let go of the driveway until the representatives of Mary Nave's estate jump through what the county defendants deem to be the proper remedial hoops. 51 For the reasons stated above, however, if the taking was for a private use, then Mary Nave's estate is not required to seek inverse condemnation or obtain a declaratory judgment quieting title to the driveway. And the estate is clearly not required to file a road closure petition pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 54-10-20 as the county defendants have suggested. That section deals with the closure of public roads, which presupposes that the road is the public's to close, and presumably would leave Carter County holding title to the driveway in question.