Question

Westtown, a city on the coast of Atlantic Ocean in Georgia, would like to build a monorail that will run on a raised track that connects the part of the city that runs along the beach to the city center, which is several miles inland. Westtown previously did not have any public transportation, so the monorail was designed to help residents and tourists travel between the beach, and businesses and restaurants in the city center. Westtown is careful to build the monorail only on public property. However, the monorail runs in between the beach and several hotels. The Beachview Hotel is suing Westtown, claiming a taking has occurred because the monorail blocks the view from the sixth floor of the twenty-story hotel when the monorail passes by the hotel, making rooms on that level much more difficult to rent. If you represented Westtown, what argument would you make that a taking has not occurred in this case?

Answer 1

This is a case of emonent domain. The government could come up with argument that the monorail was constructed for the cause of common good, which served the public convenience. In this process it had neither taken the land nor infringed upon its use, which remains as it was before construction of the monorail, thus a taking has not occurred.