A Takings Claim Is Not Time-Barred Until Plaintiff's New Claim Accrued

     In Ingrum v. United States, 77 Fed. Cl. 248 (2007), the United States Court of Federal Claims held that a takings claim could not be dismissed as time-barred where it could not be ascertained from the record when plaintiff knew or should have known that his cause of action had accrued. The takings claim arose when the owner of a ranch near Calenderia, Texas allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enter his land to do some road repairs on a road used by Border Patrol for its enforcement activities. Pursuant to the Right of Entry Agreement, the Corps could not remove any materials from Mr. Ingrum’s land without permission. Nevertheless, the Corps took land fill from Ingrum’s property without permission. Mr. Ingrum then filed suit for the taking. The government moved to dismiss the claim on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run on his claim. Mr. Ingrum argued for equitable tolling of the statute of limitations because he was unable to enter his land and thus could not have known that the government had used fill from his land. The court denied the government’s motion to dismiss saying that the record was inconclusive on whether Mr. Ingrum should have known of the government’s taking during the statutory time period. Holding that the claim could not be time-barred unless all the events that fixed the government’s alleged liability had occurred, and the plaintiff knew, or should have been aware of their existence, the court denied the government’s motion to dismiss.

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