2001 Supreme Court Redux

In 1959, petitioner and his fellow corporate associates purchased a waterfront parcel of land in Rhode Island that was primarily a salt marsh plagued by tidal flooding. Over a period of many years, the corporation filed several petitions seeking to develop the land with various government agencies and was consistently denied. In 1971, Rhode Island promulgated regulations designating salt marshes, such as petitioner\u27s, as protected coastal wetlands. In 1978, petitioner became the corporation\u27s sole shareholder and received title for the land. In the 1980\u27s, he applied to the state to fill in his marshland and was rejected based on the restrictions of the 1971 regulations. Petitioner then sued under Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council for compensation of $3.15 million, which was an appraiser\u27s estimate of the value of a 74-lot subdivisio