Ian Goldenberg, et al. v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC

The Court has long emphasized the strict construction of condemnation statutes, especially as against corporate delegatees of this sovereign power. By the plain, undisputed terms of the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. § 717f(h), a pipeline company obtains title and any incident rights of possession in property it seeks to condemn only upon entry of judgment and payment of compensation in such an action. A growing number of Circuits have nevertheless upheld grants of full possession to pipeline companies at the outset of these actions through mandatory preliminary injunctions— the Seventh Circuit has demurred. In this case, the Eleventh Circuit further expanded the reach of these injunctions in holding that a pipeline company need not even pay estimated just compensation, by posting a cash bond, before obtaining possession. As a result, Petitioners have now been deprived of their property without any compensation for over two years, even as Respondent profits from its use—pumping as much as 44.8 million cubic feet of natural gas through it every day. This case thus raises an important and frequently recurring issue never addressed by the Court as to the constitutional limits of equitable procedures in eminent domain actions at law. THE SPECIFIC QUESTION PRESENTED IS: Whether a judicially-conferred right of possession to a pipeline company before judgment and without compensation in a Natural Gas Act taking improperly invades the exclusive authority of Congress to legislate how eminent domain is exercised and violates the just compensation clause.