Private Property Cases
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property
Virginia food truck owners file federal lawsuit after raging town councilmember damaged truck, town council repeatedly harassed them
Theslet Benoir and Clemene Bastien are a married couple that immigrated to the United States from Haiti in 2005. They received asylum, settled in Parksley, Virginia, and opened a brick-and-mortar store that caters to the needs of the Eastern Shore’s Haitian population. But the town repeatedly harassed them, so they teamed up with IJ to file a federal lawsuit.
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Michigan Couple File Lawsuit Against Brooks Township For Violating Michigan Constitutional Right To Open Business
A Michigan couple fight Brooks Township's ban on new cemeteries, enacted specifically to stop them from opening a conservation burial ground on their own property.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | Rule of Law | SWAT Destruction
A Police Raid Wrecked Her Home; Now a South Bend Mom Fights for Compensation
In South Bend, a SWAT team raided the wrong home, leaving a single mom with thousands of dollars in damage not covered by insurance. She is suing for compensation.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Small Businesses Sue St. Louis Suburb to Save Their Locations From Bogus Blight Designation
A St. Louis suburb is trying to pave the way for a massive redevelopment by calling well-kept loved family businesses.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | Rule of Law | SWAT Destruction
Tennessee Couple Fights for Compensation After SWAT Team Destroys Their Home
Who pays when the government destroys private property for a public purpose, such as getting a fugitive off the streets? The answer should be clear: if the government breaks it, the…
4th Amendment Project | Private Property
New Jersey Parents File Federal Class Action Lawsuit Challenging State’s Secret Retention of Newborn Blood for 23 Years
New Jersey families challenged the state's policy of keeping blood from every baby born in the state. The state has given samples to law enforcement without a warrant.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Ocean Springs Property Owners Challenge Secret Slum Designation in Federal Lawsuit
Ocean Springs, Mississippi declared properties in parts of the city blighted slums in a secretive process. Now, property owners are suing to protect their homes, businesses, and a church.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Texas Family Fights to Defend Property in Historically Black Neighborhood from Port's Land Grab
Retired military nurse Pam Tilley grew up in the East End of Freeport, Texas—a historically black neighborhood that was filled with a vibrant community of homes, stores, and churches. First established…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | Rule of Law | SWAT Destruction
Innocent Small Business Owner Seeks Compensation After Shop Destroyed by SWAT Team
For thirty years, Carlos Pena ran a print shop in North Hollywood. His world was turned upside down, however, in August 2022, when a fugitive forced his way into Carlos’s shop and barricaded himself inside and a SWAT team destroyed his shop.
4th Amendment Project | Open Fields Doctrine | Private Property
Homeowner Sues Game Wardens Who Snuck onto His Property and Swiped a Camera
Virginia game wardens entered a family's property, seized their camera, and searched it—all without consent or a warrant.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
When the government seizes property from people without justification, and they have to spend money to get their property back, they deserve to be made whole.
Brian Moore fought to get his property back from the federal government and he won. In 2021, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents seized $8,500 in cash from him at Atlanta’s airport…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Sparta, GA, Property Owners Team Up to Fight Back Against Private Railroad’s Attempt to Take Their Property
A group of property owners in Sparta, Georgia has teamed up to fight back against a private railroad's attempt to take their land.
Private Property | Private Solutions to Public Problems | Zoning Justice Project
North Carolina Animal Sanctuary Fights Back Against Crushing Zoning Restrictions
Kimberly Dunckel founded Fairytale Farm Animal Sanctuary to rescue and care for animals on her 3.33-acre property, but Winston-Salem officials ordered her to close her sanctuary to the public.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
DeVillier v. Texas
The Case Victory! In April 2024, the Supreme Court vacated the Fifth Circuit decision and ruled the DeVillier family can sue…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
The FBI Hasn’t Said What This Couple Did Wrong, But Is Taking Their Savings Anyway
Linda Martin's home savings were seized by the FBI. She received a confusing forfeiture notice that didn't clearly say what she did wrong for the government to want to take her money.
First Amendment | Sign Codes | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
High school art class painted donut mural for bakery, town demands their work be painted over
Leavitt's Country Bakery Owner Sean Young filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Conway, after town officials demanded he paint over a mural that was created by local high school students last summer.
Housing Abundance and Affordability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property | Private Solutions to Public Problems | Zoning Justice Project
Lawsuit Challenges Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability Law—A Law That Makes Building Housing Unaffordable
Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability law is making it unaffordable to build housing.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Private Property | Vending
Small Business Owners Sue to Strike Down Jacksonville Regulations Effectively Banning Food Trucks From City
Jacksonville, North Carolina effectively bans food trucks from operating in 96 percent of the city. That's why a group of small business owners has teamed up with the Institute for Justice to file a lawsuit challenging Jacksonville's regulations.
4th Amendment Project | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Arrested and Prosecuted for his Reporting, Citizen Journalist Defends His First Amendment Rights with Federal Lawsuit
Justin Pulliam, a citizen journalist in Texas, was arrested and prosecuted for his reporting on the activities of the Fort Bend County Sheriff. He is defending his First Amendment rights with a federal lawsuit.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Indiana Supreme Court Rules Property Owners in Civil Forfeiture Cases are Entitled to a Jury Trial
Indiana Jury Trials The right to a trial by jury is fundamental to our system of justice. Particularly when the government is trying to confiscate property, the jury (as one court…
4th Amendment Project | Private Property
Michigan Homeowners Fight to Vindicate Fourth Amendment Protections Against Warrantless Surveillance Using Drones
Todd and Heather Maxon live on a five-acre property in rural Long Lake Township, in northern Michigan. Todd spends his free time fixing up and tinkering with cars and other vehicles.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
California County Caught Fining Innocent Homeowners $10,000 Per Day for Offenses They Did Not Commit
In Humboldt County, the government issues ruinous fines for things people didn’t do because it doesn’t bother to investigate. Innocent landowners then have to appeal the fines to prove their innocence…
Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Auto Shop Fights City to Save U-Haul Business
A South Carolina town changed its zoning regulations and ordered a small automotive business to stop renting U-Hauls. The owners are now fighting back.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
Homeowner Fights Back Against NYC's "Unreviewable" Fines System
Serafim Katergaris was forced to pay $1,000 to the New York Department of Buildings (DOB) for a code violation he did not commit, did not know about and had no chance to challenge. Now, he's fighting back.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
Federal Government Seeks to Impose Multimillion Dollar Excessive Fine on Grandmother, Claiming a Fine is a “Civil Penalty.”
An Boston-area grandmother is fighting to have courts consider whether the multimillion-dollar penalty the government imposed on is unconstitutionally excessive.
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Housing Abundance and Affordability | Private Property | Right to Shelter | Zoning Justice Project
Meridian Woman Fights City’s Ban on Living in Tiny Homes on Wheels, Which Has Left Her Homeless
Chasidy Decker is a native to the Boise area who wants to live in the tiny home that suits her.
4th Amendment Project | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Political Speech | Private Property
East Cleveland’s Government Weaponized its Police to Punish a Political Opponent. He’s Fighting to Hold It Accountable.
Cities can’t use the police to punish political speech.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Woman Appeals to Get $8,000 Back After Police Seized it Without Charging Her With Any Crime
Cristal Starling runs a mobile food cart in Rochester, New York, to provide for herself and her grandnephew. She dreamed of expanding the business into a food truck, and she saved enough money to do just that. But in the fall of 2020, the local police raided her apartment and seized $8,040—the money she was going to use to pursue her dream. She was never charged with or suspected of a crime.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
People Abused by Small Town’s “Policing for Profit” File Class Action Seeking Accountability
Victims of Brookside, Alabama's policing abuses filed a class action to affirm that police must act in the interest of justice, not their pocketbooks.
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Home day care provider sues city after officials shut her down over complaints from golfers
Bianca King is a single mother with two young children. Until recently, she was able to raise her 2-and 4-year-old kids while making a living running a small day care out of her home. But on Feb. 9, city officials—citing concerns of a group of nearby golfers (including former Mayor Joe Bain) that they could hear and see children playing in her backyard—shut her down. Today, she joined forces with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit in state court challenging Lakeway’s near total ban on running a home business.
