San Remo Hotel, L.P. v. City and County of San Francisco

In San Remo Hotel, L.P. v. City & County of San Francisco, 545 U.S. 323 (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court held that there is no exception to the full faith and credit statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, for claims brought under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. A litigant is fully bound by issue preclusion with respect to its claim for just compensation under the Takings Clause, and may not reassert that claim in federal court after losing on the issue in state court.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the decision for the Court, which was unanimous in verdict but split 5-4 on an underlying issue of whether a property owner must first assert his claim for just compensation in state court. The conservative justices, minus Justice Antonin Scalia, thought that :

the justifications for its state-litigation requirement are suspect, while its impact on takings plaintiffs is dramatic. Here, no court below has addressed the correctness of Williamson County, neither party has asked us to reconsider it, and resolving the issue could not benefit petitioners. In an appropriate case, I believe the Court should reconsider whether plaintiffs asserting a Fifth Amendment takings claim based on the final decision of a state or local government entity must first seek compensation in state courts.