344 TAHOE-SIERRA PRESERVATION COUNCIL, INC. v.
TAHOE REGIONAL PLANNING AGENCY Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
ignores much of the impact of respondent's conduct on petitioners. Instead, it relies on the flawed determination of the Court of Appeals that the relevant time period lasted only from August 1981 until April 1984. Ante, at 312, 313-314. During that period, Ordinance 81-5 and Regulation 83-21 prohibited development pending the adoption of a new regional land-use plan. The adoption of the 1984 Regional Plan (hereinafter Plan or 1984 Plan) did not, however, change anything from petitioners' standpoint. After the adoption of the 1984 Plan, petitioners still could make no use of their land.
The Court of Appeals disregarded this post-April 1984 deprivation on the ground that respondent did not "cause" it. In a 42 U. S. C. § 1983 action, "the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's conduct was the actionable cause of the claimed injury." 216 F. 3d 764, 783 (CA9 2000). Applying this principle, the Court of Appeals held that the 1984 Plan did not amount to a taking because the Plan actually allowed permits to issue for the construction of single-family residences. Those permits were never issued because the District Court immediately issued a temporary restraining order, and later a permanent injunction that lasted until 1987, prohibiting the approval of any building projects under the 1984 Plan. Thus, the Court of Appeals concluded that the "1984 Plan itself could not have constituted a taking," because it was the injunction, not the Plan, that prohibited development during this period. Id., at 784. The Court of Appeals is correct that the 1984 Plan did not cause petitioners' injury. But that is the right answer to the wrong question. The causation question is not limited to whether the 1984 Plan caused petitioners' injury; the question is whether respondent caused petitioners' injury.
We have never addressed the § 1983 causation requirement in the context of a regulatory takings claim, though language in Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U. S. 104 (1978), suggests that ordinary principles of proximate cause
Page: Index Previous 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007