A developer in South Florida purchased a property on which a single-family home sits, and hired an architect to obtain a building permit. But the incorporated municipality told the architect, in addition to paying the usual fees, his client would have to gift a slice of land.

Instead, the plaintiff, Megladon Inc., sued the defendants, the Village of Pinecrest and Miami-Dade County, under the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine implicit in the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment.