De-Tom Enterprises, Inc. v. United States

552 F.2d 337, 213 Ct. Cl. 362, 1977 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 26
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 23, 1977
DocketNo. 379-73
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 552 F.2d 337 (De-Tom Enterprises, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De-Tom Enterprises, Inc. v. United States, 552 F.2d 337, 213 Ct. Cl. 362, 1977 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 26 (cc 1977).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

This case comes before the court on plaintiffs exceptions to the recommended decision of Senior Trial Judge Mastin G. White, filed July 16, 1976, pursuant to Rule 134(h), having been submitted on the briefs and oral argument of counsel. Upon consideration thereof, since the court agrees with the trial judge’s recommended decision (as hereinafter set forth), it hereby affirms and adopts said decision, as supplemented by the following paragraphs of this per curiam opinion, as the basis for its judgment in this case.

In addition to the trial judge’s discussion, the court points out that plaintiff never sought judicial review (in the California state or federal courts) of the denial by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors of plaintiffs application for a change of zoning from RA-5 to R-l. On the contrary, plaintiff has acquiesced in that decision. We must therefore assume for this case that (a) that action by the County Board conformed with California law relating to zoning regulations (including common law, statutes, and the state Constitution), as well as with the federal Constitution, and (b) the refusal to allow R-l zoning [364]*364represented a proper zoning decision within the powers of Riverside County. It is also clear that that zoning action, leading at most to prevention of a rise in market value but not to a destruction of all substantial use, did not constitute a taking by the County under California law. HFH, Ltd. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 125 Cal. Rptr. 365, 15 Cal. 3d 508, 542 P.2d 237 (1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 904 (1976).1 Plaintiff is therefore in the untenable position of urging that, although there was neither a taking nor improper regulatory action by the County entity which refused plaintiffs zoning application, the United States is nevertheless liable for a taking simply because the Air Force influenced Riverside County to adopt that proper and lawful regulatory stance. Such an extraordinary result could not be correct.

Moreover, even if we assume that the County’s action was unlawful or even that it amounted to a taking by the County, the United States could not be held liable in this court. If the contention is that the Air Force acted wrongfully in influencing the County Board of Supervisors, we are plainly without jurisdiction because, as the trial judge points out, we have no original jurisdiction in tort. See, e.g., Anglo-American Trading Corp. v. United States, 109 Ct. Cl. 859 (1948). If plaintiffs position is that the Air Force necessarily took plaintiffs property (in the constitutional sense) simply by persuading the County Board not to change the zoning of the property, we must reject such a [365]*365claim on its merits. Where as here there is no physical invasion of or physical damage to a claimant’s property by the United States or its authorized agents,2 the Government can be held responsible for a Fifth Amendment taking only when its own regulatory activity is so extensive or intrusive as to amount to a taking under the general principle of Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393 (1922). See, also, United States v. Central Eureka Mining Co., 357 U.S. 155, 168 (1958); Goldblatt v. Hempstead, 369 U.S. 590, 592 ff. (1962). The recent case of Benenson v. United States, 212 Ct. Cl. 375, 548 F. 2d 939 (1977) (involving the Willard Hotel in the District of Columbia), is an instance in which Congressional legislation put such substantial and burdensome restrictions on an owner’s use of his property that a taking had to be implied. But it is quite different when neither Congress nor a federal agency puts any regulatory burden on the owner but the agency, as an interested landowner, does no more than convince a state or local agency to impose such a burden, in the same way as might any other neighboring property owner or citizen. Here the Air Force was a powerful adjoining landholder, but so could be a large private manufacturer or comparable enterprise, or an organized group of citizens intent on preserving the environment or the character of their locality. In none of these cases would the intervention of the neighbor to persuade a county entity against rezoning the claimant’s land constitute an eminent domain taking by the neighbor — whatever else it might be. The United States is thought to have a deep pocket and it is tempting for owners to try to shift to it the costs which they cannot or do not wish to impose on the ’ocal entity which actually undertakes the zoning, but the fundamental point is that it is that agency (here the County Board) which adopts, and has the power to adopt, the allegedly injurious course, and the federal agency (here the Air Force) is only playing the role of an influential affected landowner trying to persuade the county body to accept its position.3

[366]*366For these reasons, and those given by the Trial Judge, we hold that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover and the petition is dismissed.

OPINION OP THE TRIAL JUDGE

White, Senior Trial Judge:

The plaintiff asserts a claim under the provision of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution which declares, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” In asserting this claim, the plaintiff presents for consideration a novel theory concerning an alleged taking by the Government of an interest in land owned by the plaintiff.

The land involved in the present case is a 38.93-acre parcel situated in Riverside County, California. It lies to the east of, and adjacent to, March Air Force Base, which is the home base of the 22nd Bombardment Wing, a unit of the Fifteenth Air Force, Strategic Air Command. The 22nd Bombardment Wing is equipped with B-52 heavy bombers and KC-135 tanker planes. Both the B-52 and the KC-135 are multi-engine jet aircraft.

The plaintiffs property is located sufficiently close to portions of March Air Force Base where noise-producing activities are carried on — e.g., the repair area (where dismounted jet engines are repaired and tested), the warmup area (where the jet engines of operational aircraft are warmed up before the aircraft proceed to a runway for takeoff), and a north-south runway — that jet-engine noise emanating from March Air Force Base is audible much of the time to anyone on the plaintiffs property. However, the plaintiff does not complain in the present case of the impact of such noise on its property. Rather, the plaintiff contends that the noise is not unduly disturbing, and complains that the Air Force prevented it from obtaining a change of zoning that would have permitted the property to be developed for high-density residential purposes. The [367]*367pertinent- circumstances will be summarized in subsequent paragraphs of this opinion.

The 38.93 acres comprising the plaintiffs property (which will usually be referred to hereafter in the opinion as "the property”) were acquired by the plaintiff in three separate transactions during the period which began in August 1963 and ended in February 1964.

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Bluebook (online)
552 F.2d 337, 213 Ct. Cl. 362, 1977 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-tom-enterprises-inc-v-united-states-cc-1977.