Fla. homeowners lose beach dispute at high court

U.S. Court News

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Florida can undertake beach-widening projects without paying beachfront property owners who lose exclusive access to the water.

The court, by an 8-0 vote, rejected a challenge by six homeowners in Florida's Panhandle who argued that a beach-widening project changed their oceanfront property into oceanview. Justice John Paul Stevens took no part in the case in which the court affirmed an earlier ruling.

Private property advocates had hoped the court would rule for the first time that a court decision can amount to a taking of property.

The court's four conservatives — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — were prepared to rule that way, even though the homeowners still would have lost in this case, Scalia said in his opinion for the court. But they lacked a fifth vote.

The Constitution requires governments to pay "just compensation" when they take private property for public use.

Related listings

  • Jackson doctor fighting to keep medical license

    Jackson doctor fighting to keep medical license

    U.S. Court News 06/14/2010

    Nearly a year after he went from anonymity to notoriety, Michael Jackson's doctor returns to court for a pretrial hearing that will determine when he goes to trial and what he will be able to do in the meantime.Dr. Conrad Murray is likely to face the...

  • Former Twin Cities lawyer pleads guilty of cheating firm

    Former Twin Cities lawyer pleads guilty of cheating firm

    U.S. Court News 06/09/2010

    Former Twin Cities attorney Michael S. Margulies pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to wire fraud, admitting that he embezzled $2 million from his former law firm and its clients. The plea was the result of a deal Margulies, 56, struck with fede...

  • Weinberg Law Firm -  Dallas Employment Law

    Weinberg Law Firm - Dallas Employment Law

    U.S. Court News 05/29/2010

    Overtime claims and compliance Wage and hour matters usually manifest when disgruntled employees feel they have not been compensated properly for their work.  Often, wage and hour matters are brought forth by employees who have been terminated, ...

New York Adoption, Foster Care Litigation and Family Law

Rosin Steinhagen Mendel is a law firm dedicated to serving our clients in New York City, the surrounding counties in southern New York State, and in New Jersey, in the areas of adoption, foster care litigation, and family law.

We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights, permanency hearings, custody hearings, guardianship, administrative proceedings, and adoption. Our goal is to provide each of our clients with the best possible representation in all aspects of their cases, and clients appreciate our careful analysis of individual cases, through preparation and attention to detail. For over 35 years, our attorneys have represented adoptive parents, birth parents, foster parents, children, foster care agencies, and adoption agencies. We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights, permanency hearings, custody hearings, guardianship, administrative proceedings, and adoption.

Our goal for our lawyers is to provide each of our clients with the best possible representation in all aspects of their cases, and clients appreciate our careful analysis of individual cases, through our preparation and attention to detail.

Business News

Cook County IL Trucking Lawyers We are one of Cook County's leading Workers’ Compensation firms. Illinois workers’ compensation, transportation lawyers. >> read
Santa Ana, CA Workers' Compensation Lawyers We are one of Orange County’s leading Workers’ Compensation firms. >> read