Chapter §15.12 RIPENESS AND EXHAUSTION

• Jurisdiction: Oregon

§15.12 RIPENESS AND EXHAUSTION

Ripeness and exhaustion are jurisprudential doctrines relating to the timing of the filing of a complaint. See generally chapter 11. In the regulatory takings context, ripeness refers to the necessity for a final governmental action, usually the denial of a permit or application, before a complaint for inverse condemnation is filed. Exhaustion refers to the requirement that the property owner use available administrative and judicial procedures to obtain relief from an unlawful governmental action before seeking compensation. Boise Cascade Corp. v. State ex rel. Oregon State Bd. of Forestry, 164 Or App 114, 129 n 6, 991 P2d 563 (1999).

Murray v. State, 203 Or App 377, 124 P3d 1261 (2005), illustrates ripeness. The Columbia River Gorge Commission obtained an injunction against the property owners for conducting mining operations without the necessary permits and without conducting a cultural resources survey. A subsequent survey discovered significant cultural resources, some of which had been destroyed by mining. The property owners then sued, alleging that the actions of the commission had taken the property. Murray, 203 Or App at 384-87. The court of appeals held that the case was not ripe, because the property owners had not pursued remedies that would have allowed them to develop the property. Before the injunction, the petitioners were not told that they could not develop the property, but were told merely that they first had to submit a cultural resources survey as part of the application process. In other words, they never obtained a final denial of...