00:04
so the united states constitution
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and most state constitutions provide
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that no
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government can take property from a
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private person without paying something
00:15
that’s known as just compensation under
00:17
the law
00:17
and the government taking your property
00:20
doesn’t
00:20
always mean they physically show up and
00:23
take it
00:24
if what the government is doing if
00:26
actions of the government
00:28
constitute a quote taking the government
00:31
is required to pay
00:33
just compensation for taking property
00:36
when most people hear of
00:39
and read about and are taught about
00:43
condemnation cases they’re thinking of a
00:46
concept known as eminent domain
00:48
which is typically used by a
00:51
governmental entity or unit to take real
00:54
estate
00:55
from i from private properties and
00:56
either use it for government purposes
00:58
an example that most people would be
01:00
familiar with is the government’s
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building a road
01:03
and that road is going through um a
01:05
certain subdivision or through your
01:07
backyard and the government sends you a
01:09
notice they’re
01:10
they’re taking five feet of your your
01:12
yard in order to build a road or to put
01:14
in a utility easement and so
01:16
it typically comes up in situations
01:18
involving real estate
01:20
that being said there is a united states
01:23
supreme court
01:24
opinion authored by chief justice
01:28
roberts from 2015 where the united
01:31
states supreme court
01:33
specifically held that the takings
01:36
clause in the u.s constitution
01:38
applies to personal property
01:41
just as much as it applies to real
01:44
property
01:45
and so there is this somewhat
01:48
undeveloped
01:48
argument with respect to mandatory
01:51
closures of businesses
01:54
that the government forcing a closure of
01:57
your business a retail business
01:59
a gym a retail restaurant a bar
02:02
constitutes a taking of personal
02:05
property
02:06
without any just compensation there’s
02:09
also
02:10
a kind of a second rub to that in that
02:12
in most
02:13
at least retail businesses there’s some
02:16
form of governmental
02:17
and or municipal licensing so if you
02:20
have a retail restaurant that serves
02:21
liquor
02:22
you have the state the county
02:25
the municipality all charging you for
02:27
retail alcoholic liquor licenses
02:30
they’re charging you for business
02:31
licenses none of the states
02:34
counties municipalities have refunded
02:37
any monies that i’m aware of
02:39
to any retail restaurants or other
02:41
retail business owners
02:42
for the licenses that they paid for
02:45
during the period
02:46
in which they were forced to be closed
02:49
by the very governments that were
02:51
charging them
02:52
for the right to operate and so we do
02:55
think that there are
02:56
justiciable claims to be brought against
03:00
governmental entities for
03:03
civil authority force closures of
03:05
businesses
03:07
um as a result of covet 19. some of the
03:10
impediments
03:10
to those claims are obviously many
03:13
governments have
03:14
certain tort immunity or certain
03:17
immunity
03:18
up to certain dollar amounts they have
03:21
qualified immunities
03:22
and it’s a hyper technical legal
03:24
argument so again if a business owner
03:26
wants to pursue
03:28
a just compensation claim for the taking
03:31
of personal
03:32
property my recommendation would be to
03:34
consult with
03:35
a trained legal professional that can
03:37
metabolize the argument
03:38
and give them the appropriate advice