Pacific Legal Foundation Fights for Rights of Florida Property Owner

In the face of the government’s shocking violations of private property rights, at least a number of pro-liberty attorneys, such as those with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), are fighting for the rights of property owners in the courts.

In a January 9 email, Rob Rivett, president of PLF, announced that on January 15 “the U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the most important property rights cases in years—the PLF case of Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District.”

PLF summarizes the case:

Coy A. Koontz wants to develop commercial land, most of which lies within a riparian [water] habitat protection zone in Orange County, Florida. He applied for a dredge and fill permit with the St. Johns Water Management District. St. Johns agreed to grant the permit, but only on the condition that he place a conservation easement over his land, and perform mitigation off-site by replacing culverts and plugging certain drainage canals on other properties not owned by Koontz and miles away from the property. When Koontz refused to perform the off-site mitigation, St. Johns denied the permit.

In this case, not only is the government actively violating Koontz’s property rights, it is attempting to extort his wealth for government projects not even related to his property.

Kudos to Koontz for fighting this government injustice—and to PLF for taking this case all the way to the Supreme Court.

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Related:

• Book Review: The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law by Timothy Sandefur
• Pacific Legal Foundation Scores Moving Victory

Image of Coy Koontz: Pacific Legal Foundation

About Ari Armstrong

Ari Armstrong blogs at AriArmstrong.com, and he has written for publications including the Denver Post and Complete Colorado. He is the author of Values of Harry Potter: Lessons for Muggles, a book exploring the heroic fight for life-promoting values in the Potter novels.

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