A Taking Or Just A Fee? Justices Seek To Make Distinction

Kevin King’s commentary was included in a Law360 article discussing how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in George Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, California could affect American land use planning. At issue is whether government permit fees constitute a taking under the Fifth Amendment. Kevin commented on how he thinks the court might approach the case.

“The court appears poised to issue a narrow ruling that would find that legislatively enacted exactions are not immune from review under the court's precedents. That leaves challenging issues about whether there's a taking here in a legislate context that the lower courts would have to work through,” he said.

Kevin added that the court's decision to hear Sheetz is part of a broader campaign among justices to push back against what they see as an "unduly narrow approach to property rights" taken in lower courts. He went on to note that “what you see in the Sheetz case is a broader interest in the Supreme Court in taking up property rights cases.”