In a dramatic repudiation of 34 years of established precedent and a clear victory for private property owners, the United States Supreme Court has held in Knick v. Township of Scott, 588 U.S. ___ (2019), that a claim for a regulatory taking of private property pursuant to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution may be filed directly in federal court without first exhausting state court remedies.
In its decision issued on June 21, 2019, the Court explicitly overruled its prior decision in Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (1985), in which the Court had ruled that a property owner could not bring a takings claim in federal court until a state court had first denied the property owner's claim for just compensation under state law. In San Remo Hotel, L.P. v. City and County of San Francisco, 545 U.S. 323 (2005), however, the Court subsequently held that resolution of a claim for just compensation in state court has preclusive effect with respect to the ability to bring the claim in federal court, thereby effectively barring regulatory takings claims under the Fifth Amendment from ever being heard in federal court.