Markle Interests v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
827 F.3d 452 (2016)
- Written by Abby Keenan, JD
Facts
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) (defendant) designated 1,544 acres of land privately owned by Markle Interests and three additional entities (collectively, the landowners) (plaintiffs) as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog (the frog). The property contained rare ephemeral (seasonal) ponds, one of the features that the frogs need to breed and survive. The landowners sued in federal district court for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. The landowners argued that the property was not currently habitable by the frog and not likely to be habitable in the future, so it could not be essential to the conservation of the species. The landowners argued that designation in this circumstance would constitute an unreasonable interpretation of the word essential and would give the FWS unlimited power to burden private property. The district court rejected these arguments, and the landowners appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Higginson, J.)
Dissent (Owen, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
