Hampton v. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District

Plaintiffs filed complaint against Water Reclamation District, alleging that their private property was damaged by flooding after heavy rainfall, due to District's control and management of Waterways System. Generally, a single instance of flooding may not constitute a taking. To the extent that the Illinois Supreme Court's 1948 Pratt v. Rosenfeld decision holds that temporary flooding of property can never be a compensable taking under the Illinois Constitution, it is overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2012 Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. U.S. decision, which held that whether flooding cases are compensable takings should be assessed on their facts and not by resorting to blanket exclusionary rules. (PALMER and REYES, concurring.)