Fifth Circuit Cites SCOTUS Precedent, Axes Win for McKinney Woman Whose Home Cops Destroyed

A woman who had the misfortune of hosting in her home a standoff between a fugitive and McKinney police is not entitled to any compensation for the damage caused by authorities, the Fifth Circuit recently determined.

Vicki Baker had been awarded $60,000 in damages in a final judgment entered by U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant in June 2022 following a jury trial. But the Fifth Circuit held that despite having “sympathy” for Baker, “on whom misfortune fell at no fault of her own,” she was not entitled to compensation in this instance under the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause because it was “objectively necessary” for police to damage or destroy her home in order to prevent “imminent harm.”