EMINENT DOMAIN - TEXAS

San Jacinto River Authority v. Medina

Supreme Court of Texas - April 16, 2021 - S.W.3d - 2021 WL 1432227

Downstream property owners’ brought separate suits for declaratory judgment under eminent domain statutes that river authority, by precipitously releasing water from dam at excessive rate in response to hurricane, had caused or added to the flooding of their land and thereby caused a “taking.”

The District Court denied river authority’s motions to dismiss, and river authority appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, and river authority petitioned for review.

The Supreme Court held that:

Statutory takings claims under the eminent domain statutes are not limited solely to claims for regulatory takings; such claims may also be brought for physical takings, such as a flooding.

Allegations in downstream property owners’ complaints for declaratory judgment that river authority, by precipitously releasing water from dam at excessive rate in response to hurricane, had caused or added to the flooding of their land and thereby caused a “taking,” when its knowledge and experience from prior hurricane that had caused even more precipitation should have informed it that it could have released water more slowly in manner that would not have caused such damage, did not conclusively establish that river authority’s actions met either the “reasonable good faith belief” test of one exception to eminent domain statutes or the “measured and appropriate response” test of another, as required for court to dismiss property owners’ suits as having no basis in law or fact.



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