Small Businesses File Amicus Brief Defending Property Owners

November 20, 2023

Small Businesses File Amicus Brief Defending Property Owners

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 20, 2023) – NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case Devillier v. Texas at the United States Supreme Court. The case questions whether a person whose property is taken without compensation may seek redress under the self-executing Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment even if the legislature has not affirmatively provided them with a cause of action. “The Fifth Amendment makes it clear that property owners are owed compensation when the government takes any property,” said Beth Milito, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “Specifically, small business owners depend on that compensation for business purposes. We ask the Court to hold that the Takings Clause is self-executing, and states may not immunize themselves from the constitutional mandate to pay just compensation.” NFIB’s brief argues that the Takings Clause itself provides the right to just compensation when the government takes private property and because of this, no legislation providing an avenue to sue is necessary. The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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