Stueve Bros. Farms, LLC v. United States

BRYSON, Circuit Judge.

This takings case requires us to decide whether the government’s actions effected a physical taking of a flowage easement over the plaintiffs’ property, even though the government never occupied the property by flooding. The Court of Federal Claims held that the government’s conduct did not constitute a taking. We affirm.

I

In 1941, the United States Army Corps of Engineers completed construction of the Prado Dam on the Santa Ana River near Corona, California. Predecessors of plaintiffs Stueve Bros. Farms, LLC, and Mill-creek Farming Associates, LLC, subsequently purchased…