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Department of Transportation v. Fortune Federal Savings and Loan Association

Supreme Court of Florida
532 So.2d 1267 (1988)

Written by Anjali Bhat, JD

Facts

The Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) (defendant) filed a petition to acquire a parcel of land belonging to Fortune Federal Savings and Loan Association (Fortune) (plaintiff) by eminent domain for a road-widening project. DOT only needed a portion of the land for the project. By Florida statute, if DOT acquired only a portion of the land, then DOT would be required to compensate Fortune for that portion and for business damages, the total of which would be $2,225,000. However, if DOT took the entire parcel, then DOT would only be required to compensate Fortune for the value of the parcel, which was $480,000. A Florida statute permitted DOT to reduce acquisition costs by taking more property than strictly necessary. Accordingly, DOT sought to acquire the entire parcel. Fortune argued that: (1) it would be improper to require a business to finance the cost of a public project by forgoing business damages, and (2) saving the state money was not a valid public purpose under the state constitutional guidelines for takings of property. The trial court allowed DOT to take only a portion of the parcel. DOT appealed. The Second District Court of Appeal of Florida affirmed, holding that saving the state money was not a valid public purpose for a taking and that it was unconstitutional for DOT to take more property than necessary to complete the road-widening project. DOT appealed again.

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Holding and Reasoning (Kogan, J.)

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