Supreme Court Considers Landowners’ Claims Against Texas for Flood Damage

The Supreme Court heard on Jan. 16 the appeal of a Texas farmer suing his state’s transportation department for damaging his family’s farm. The case, Devillier v. Texas, arises out of a series of inverse-condemnation cases filed in Texas state courts, all of which claimed a highway project caused widespread flooding. Inverse condemnation is when a government takes or damages property for public use without going through an eminent domain proceeding. Richie Devillier and his family have lived on their farm in Winnie, Texas since his grandfather purchased the property in the 1930s. And for most of that history, the land never flooded. Then, in the early 2000s, the Texas Department of Transportation renovated nearby Interstate 10, increased its height, added two lanes, and installed a concrete barrier in the median....