For nearly a century, the DeVillier family raised cattle and grew crops on the 900-acre property without incident — until the Texas Department of Transportation started a highway project that had serious implications for DeVillier’s land.In the early 2000s, the state renovated Interstate 10, elevating and broadening the highway and erecting concrete barriers.
Some 100 cows and horses were killed in the flooding, and countless crops were lost. Yet the state has refused to compensate DeVillier, which prompted him to sue for damages.In November, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit punted on the matter, arguing that federal courts have no jurisdiction inagainst states.
The court’s reasoning is strange. Not only does the Constitution explicitly state that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law … without just compensation,” but the high court weighed in on this issue as recently as 2019.need to exhaust state courts before seeking redress at the federal level, stating that a “property owner has an actionable Fifth Amendment takings claim when the government takes his property without paying for it.