Court Rejects Takings Claim Based on National Monument Designation

Ferrari v. United States
2006 WL 2831141

Plaintiffs, owners of five property tracts in Albuquerque, New Mexico, brought an action for inverse condemnation, alleging that their property was constructively taken as a result of the Petroglyph National Monument Establishment Act of 1990. The Act authorized the government to acquire more than 7,000 acres of lands to become part of the Petroglyph National Monument, in order to protect prehistoric and historic petroglyphs and other archeological sites. The government offered to purchase plaintiffs’ properties, but plaintiffs refused to sell, claiming the offers were too low. Plaintiffs claimed that a taking occurred based on the government’s unreasonably low purchase offers and its failure to exercise eminent domain, and they allege that the government cannot acquire their properties due to restrictive covenants on the properties. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims on September 29, 2006, however, granted the government’s motion for summary judgment after finding that there had been no taking of plaintiffs’ property because plaintiffs still had unfettered usage of and access to the land. The court based this assessment on the plain language of the law establishing the Monument, the Land Protection Plan formulated by the National Park Service, and a waiver issued by the Attorney General permitting the government to honor restrictive covenants on properties it acquired.

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