Interesting Legal Question
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When an armed fugitive held a 15-year-old girl inside a house in McKinney, Texas, in 2000, police used explosives, toxic-gas grenades and armed vehicles to resolve the situation.
The girl was released. The fugitive killed only himself. But the house, which belonged to an innocent woman, was severely damaged.
Vicki Baker, the owner, sued the city for compensation and a jury sided with her.
But a panel of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision. Despite their sympathy for Baker, the judges said, the city didn’t have to compensate her because she acknowledged that the damage was unavoidable.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review that decision.
Justice Sonya Sotomayor, in a statement joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, said the case raises an “important and complex question.” But it’s one that would benefit from more review by lower courts before the Supreme Court weighs in, she wrote.
