Takings Clause

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Craig Billie v. Village of Channahon

Case No.: 22-1660

Officials: Flaum, Easterbrook, and St. Eve, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Takings Clause

In 1993 the Village of Channahon, Illinois, approved the plat of a residential subdivision lying within the DuPage River Special Flood Hazard Area. By August 1994 the Village had issued permits for the construction of seven houses in this subdivision. All seven experience flooded basements when the DuPage River is at high water. Plaintiffs, the current owners of these houses, contend that the Village violated the Constitution either by granting the permits to build (without ensuring that the basements would remain dry) or by failing to construct dykes to keep water away. But plaintiffs do not contend that the Village required them to build where they did, or to dig basements to the depth they did, or took any steps after the houses’ construction that made flooding worse. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50348 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 22, 2022).

The Constitution establishes rights to be free of governmental interference but does not compel governmental intervention to assist persons. Even if the Village violated a local ordinance and a federal regulation by granting the applications without insisting that the houses be built higher, the Constitution does not entitle private parties to accurate enforcement of local, state, or federal law.

Affirmed.

Decided 01/24/23

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