W.J.F. Realty Corp. v. State

New York (defendant) enacted an environmental-protection law generally prohibiting building in a designated area, creating a commission to review hardship-based exception applications, subject to judicial review, and empowering the commission to either vacate an uncompensated taking or exercise eminent domain to acquire qualifying land. W.J.F. Realty (plaintiff) sued, challenging the law as an unconstitutional restriction on its property rights.

Whether the government may put limits on private use of land to further the collective interest of protecting the environment.