In April 2020, as the COVID outbreak was unfolding, Walton County, Florida, closed all beaches--public and private. Did this ordinance, as applied to private beaches, constitute a taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment? Yes it did, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in an opinion released yesterday.
Judge Lagoa wrote for the panel in Alford v. Walton County, joined by Judges Brasher and Carnes. Her opinion begins:
The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment provides that "private property" shall not "be taken for public use, without just compensation." U.S. Const. amend. V. Here, we consider whether a Walton County ordinance that proscribed all access to privately-owned beaches constitutes a "taking" under the Fifth Amendment. We hold that it does.
Despite the County's significant infringement on property rights, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Walton County, noting that the ordinance was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. But there is no COVID exception to the Takings Clause. Instead, the government must respect constitutional rights during public emergencies, lest the tools of our security become the means of our undoing. "The Founders recognized that the protection of private property is indispensable to the promotion of individual freedom. As John Adams tersely put it, '[p]roperty must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.'" Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 594 U.S. 139, 147 (2021) (quoting Discourses on Davila, in 6 Works of John Adams 280 (C. Adams ed. 1851)).
Accordingly, after careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm the district court's dismissal of the Landowners' prospective claims, but we reverse the district court's judgment on the Landowners' Takings Clause claim. Because we hold that the County effectuated a "taking" of the Landowners' property, we need not address the Landowners' claims under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. On remand, the district court shall consider the amount of "just compensation" that the Landowners are entitled to. U.S. Const. amend. V.
