Texas Rancher’s Property Rights Case to be Heard by U.S. Supreme Court
Attorney’s representing a Texas rancher are preparing to test the “pottery barn rule” – you break it you buy it – before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Richie DeVillier lives on land east of Houston that has been in his family since the 1920s. For all that time the land hasn’t flooded. That is, until the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began rebuilding Highway 10.
The state raised the road and added a 3-foot-high watertight concrete wall along the middle—basically a dam. A few years later, when Hurricane Harvey hit, DeVillier’s ranch flooded for the first time. And not just for a little while. The water stayed for days. Water that would have drained south stopped dead at what is effectively now a dam. DeVillier’s cows stood, for days, chest deep in water. And so they died. As did other animals, crops, and trees.
DeVillier asked TxDOT to take the dam down but the request was denied. TxDOT said the south side of the highway needed to remain dry to allow for emergency vehicles during periods of high water. That was the beginning of a seven-year legal battle with TxDOT that now heads to the Supreme Court for arguments on January 16, 2024.
DeVillier says his 900-acre ranch has flooded twice, once after Harvey and once after Imelda.
"We lost I think it was about 60 head of cattle, seven horses, and one colt and numerous calves," Devillier told 12News in Beaumont, Texas.
The rancher’s attorneys say the state should have compensated him for the lost livestock and land.
"The 5th amendment to the constitution says if the government needs to build a dam and flood land, it has to pay for the land that it's turned into a lake," said Robert McNamara, an attorney with Institute for Justice which represents DeVillier. "Richie was told by a Texas Department of Transportation engineer that part of the reason to have a dam in the middle of a highway was to keep the south side of the highway dry."
McNamara says when Devillier asked for the median to be removed he was told “the Texas Department of Transportation is in the highway business, not the drainage business," McNamara said.
Devillier says moving from his property located north of Highway-10 is not an option, regardless of the US Supreme Court's decision.
"I've worked all my life here to build what little bit of wealth, if any, we have," Devillier said. "That's a lifelong investment that I'm not willing to give up."
Devillier and McNamara agree that if the court rules in favor of the state, the result could create a legal ripple effect across the country.
"If this can happen to Richie, this can happen to anyone. This case isn't just about a flood, this is fundamentally about whether the constitution matters. We say it does, Texas says it doesn't and we're going to find out which one of us is right," McNamara said.
