BAS, LLC v. Tommy Land, in His Official Capacity as Commissioner of State Lands for the State of Arkansas

To collect an unpaid $9,897.88 property tax bill, the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands foreclosed and auctioned an office building and land owned by BAS worth over $1,500,000. To avoid violating the Fifth Amendment for an unconstitutional taking, the Commissioner was obligated to return the equity to BAS. Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. 631 (2023). When the Commissioner did not do so, BAS sued in an Arkansas court for a de facto taking. The Arkansas Supreme Court, however, categorically barred BAS’s federal takings claim because the Commissioner had not waived sovereign immunity under the Arkansas Constitution. The question presented is: Does a state’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment obligation to pay just compensation waive sovereign immunity when it takes private property?