83 F. 4th 655 (2023)

Willow Way purchased a property in the Village of Lyons in 2016. The house located on the property required extensive repairs, which started in 2017 but were never completed. Several years passed with no action on the property, and the Village ultimately took steps to tear down the house which had fallen into disrepair. The Village published notice, posted notices on the property and mailed notices to Willow Way (who conceded that they had actual knowledge of the impending demolition). The house was demolished, and the parcel was sold at auction to satisfy the Village’s lien for expenses. Willow Way filed suit in federal district court alleging the demolition was a taking without compensation and violated due process. The district court found for the Village on the federal claim and relinquished its jurisdiction to allow Willow Way to pursue its state claim in state court. Willow Way appealed the matter and argued that the federal court had jurisdiction and should adjudicate the state law claim also.  The Seventh Circuit held for the Village and found that Willow Way had failed to correctly plead the elements that would bring the matter under federal jurisdiction, thus the inverse condemnation matter was to be handled at the state court level.

Takeaways:

The district court found that the State law in Illinois offered plenty of opportunity to property owners to stop the demolition. If the property owner had filed suit in state court, it would have paused the demolition until a judge decided whether the building met the statutory criteria for being razed.

The court also found in this matter that the demolition of a dilapidated building that was a public nuisance does not violate the Due Process Clause and does not require compensation.