You remember that case we posted recently, from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in which the court granted summary judgment to a property owner after the city police damaged her home in the course of the police’s apprehension of a suspect. The court rejected the Tenth Circuit’s rationale in a similar case (which concluded that these are “police power” actions, and thus never a taking).

After that ruling, the remaining issues (was the city liable under section 1983, and if so what is the just compensation owed) were tried by a jury.

On June 20, 2022, this case went to trial. Two days later, the jury returned its verdict (Dkt. #74). The jury found the City was liable under § 1983 because it acted under color of state law when it violated Baker’s constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution by…

Continue Reading District Court Declines To Back Off Its “SWAT Takings” Verdict