Property rights advocates had cause to celebrate yesterday as the Supreme Court ruled that landowners who sue local governments over their land use regulations can be entitled to a jury trial. The case concerned a California developer whose plans to build a residential complex were rejected by the City of Monterey, which said the beachfront property in question was environmentally sensitive and provided habitat to a variety of species, including an endangered butterfly. A jury found that the city’s action amounted to a regulatory “taking” of the property and awarded $1.45 million to the developer. Monterey protested that the landowner was not entitled to a jury trial, but the Supreme Court disagreed.
