Today, Herb Titus spoke at a Conference on Eminent Domain and Land Value Litigation sponsored by the American Law Institute in San Francisco, California.
Herb’s topic was the reemergence of the private property principle in the Fourth Amendment, as reflected in two recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. In United States v. Jones and Jardines v. Florida, the Court ruled that the rights protected by the ban on unreasonable searches and seizures is foremost a protection against trespass against property interests in one’s person, house, paper and effect without regard for the property owner’s expectation of privacy, reasonable or otherwise.
In his presentation, Herb emphasized the importance of the common law predicate underpinning the First through the Fifth Amendments of the federal bill of rights, and urged attorneys practicing in the of eminent domain to consider augmenting a “takings” claim with a Fourth Amendment search or seizure claim where appropriate.