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Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington

Public use of short-term interest derived from state law-mandated attorney trust accounts is not an unconstitutional regulatory taking.

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Argued December 9, 2002

538 U. S. ____ (2003)

The State of Washington, like every other State in the Union, uses interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTA) to pay for legal services provided to the needy. Some IOLTA programs were created by statute, but in Washington, as in most other States, the IOLTA program was established by the State Supreme Court pursuant to its authority to regulate the practice of law. In Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation, 524 U. S. 156 (1998), a case involving the Texas IOLTA program, we held “that the interest income generated by funds held in IOLTA accounts is the `private property’ of the owner of the principal.” Id., at 172. We did not, however, express any opinion on the question whether the income had been “taken” by the State or “as to the amount of `just compensation,’ if any, due respondents.” Ibid. We now confront those questions.

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