Aleutian Livestock Co. v. United States

On July 5, 1942, plaintiff was engaged in the production *342of wool on Umnak Island., one of the Aleutian chain of islands, stretching one thousand miles or so from the Alaskan Peninsula out toward Japan and the Asiatic mainland. On that date defendant, as a security measure, evacuated all but two of the civilians residing on it, including plaintiff’s employees. This left plaintiff’s sheep unattended, as a result of which plaintiff suffered losses, for which it sues, on the theory that defendant took its property, which obligated it under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution to pay it •just…