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Violet Dock Port, Inc., LLC v. St. Bernard Port, Harbor, & Terminal District

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Louisiana, No. 2017--0434 · judgment January 30, 2018

Certiorari denied · October 15, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a business petitioner.

Questions presented

The St. Bernard Port, Harbor & Terminal District used its eminent domain power to seize Petitioner’s fully-functioning and profitable private port facility to lease it to another private port operator to operate in a similar manner, even taking over Petitioner’s customers in the process. The taking was not part of a comprehensive redevelopment plan, nor was Petitioner’s property blighted or causing any public harm. The intended private recipient of the property was intimately involved in all aspects of the taking from its earliest planning stages, to the local government’s applications for state funding, to taking over operations on the property post-taking. The Louisiana Supreme Court, relying on Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), upheld the taking by holding “this expropriation satisfies the broad definition of public purpose under federal law.” The questions presented are:

  1. Did the Louisiana Supreme Court err when it held that the Fifth Amendment’s “public use” requirement is a question of fact to be resolved in the trial court, subject only to a manifest error review on appeal?

  2. Do the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit government from taking a fully-functioning private facility with the intent to lease it to another private entity to operate, with the revenues earned from those operations to be shared by both the local government entity and its favored private actor? (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
William Scott Hastings
Locke Lord LLP

For respondent
James M. Garner
Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert, LLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Oct 15 2018
    Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by NFIB Small Business Legal Center, et al. GRANTED.
  2. Oct 15 2018
    Petition DENIED.
  3. Sep 26 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/12/2018.
  4. Sep 24 2018
    Reply of petitioner Violet Dock Port, Inc., L.L.C. filed.
  5. Sep 10 2018
    Brief of respondent St. Bernard Port, Harbor, & Terminal District in opposition filed.
  6. Aug 07 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 10, 2018
  7. Aug 06 2018
    Motion to extend further the time to file a response from August 10, 2018 to September 10, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  8. Jul 11 2018
    Amicus brief of NFIB Small Business Legal Center, Southeastern Legal Foundation, Cato Institute, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Atlantic Legal Foundation, Mountain States Legal Foundation, New England Legal Foundation, and Rutherford Institute not accepted for filing. (July 13, 2018) (Brief to be resubmitted as a motion for leave to file a brief of amici curiae)
  9. Jul 11 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Owners' Counsel of America, Institute for Justice filed.
  10. Jul 11 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Pacific Legal Foundation filed.
  11. Jul 11 2018
    Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by NFIB Small Business Legal Center, et al.
  12. Jun 29 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 11, 2018 to August 10, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  13. Jun 29 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 10, 2018.
  14. Jun 12 2018
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Violet Dock Port, Inc., L.L.C.
  15. Jun 11 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 11, 2018)