United States v. Rogers

Background

The United States sued in federal court in New Mexico in 1915 to take private land for a reclamation project. The petition said the Secretary of the Interior had ordered the taking, the land was flooded and used by the Government, and the owners had received no payment. Commissioners assessed damages and awards were filed in 1917; the court ordered the sums deposited. The landowners then asked the court to require the Government to deposit additional sums equal to six percent interest from April 19, 1912, the date the land was taken by flooding, and the District Court granted that request. The Government appealed and the lower appellate court affirmed.

Reasoning

The main question was whether owners should receive interest from the time their land was actually taken until they were paid, and whether a six-percent rate could be used. The Court explained that ordinarily the United States is not made to pay interest unless a law allows it, but when the Government actually takes private property it must make just compensation measured from the time the owner lost use of the land. The District Court and the appellate court followed New Mexico’s rule fixing interest at six percent as a fair and convenient way to calculate just compensation. The Court agreed that applying the state rate here was proper and found no error in the lower courts’ rulings.

Real world impact

Property owners whose land is physically taken by the Government can receive interest from the date of taking until payment. Courts may use the state’s interest rate as a method to compute compensation. In this case the judgment requiring six-percent interest was affirmed.