§ 1988, namely, that fee and merits liability run together. As a result, Hutto neither holds nor suggests that fees are available from a governmental entity simply because a government official has been prevailed against in his or her personal capacity.

Respondents vigorously protest that this holding will "effectively destro[y]" § 1988 in cases such as this one. Brief for Respondents 19. This fear is overstated. Fees are unavailable only where a governmental entity cannot be held liable on the merits; today we simply apply the fee-shifting provisions of § 1988 against a pre-existing background of substantive liability rules.

V

Only in an official-capacity action is a plaintiff who prevails entitled to look for relief, both on the merits and for fees, to the governmental entity. Because the Court's Eleventh Amendment decisions required this case to be litigated as a personal-capacity action, the award of fees against the Commonwealth of Kentucky must be reversed.

It is so ordered.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY REGIONAL PLANNING
COMMISSION ET AL. v. HAMILTON BANK
OF JOHNSON CITY

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

No. 84-4. Argued February 19, 1985-Decided June 28, 1985 As required under Tennessee law, in 1973 respondent's predecessor in interest, a land developer, obtained petitioner Planning Commission's approval of a preliminary plat for development of a tract. The tract was to be developed in accord with the requirements of a county zoning ordinance for "cluster" development of residential areas and the Commission's implementing regulations. In 1977, the county zoning ordinance was changed so as to reduce the allowable density of dwelling units, but the Commission continued to apply the 1973 ordinance and regulations to the developer's tract. In 1979, however, the Commission decided that further development of the tract should be governed by the ordinance and regulations then in effect. The Commission thereafter disapproved plats proposing further development of the remainder of the tract on various grounds, including failure to comply with current density requirements. Respondent filed suit against the Commission and its members and staff (also petitioners) in Federal District Court pursuant to 42 U. S. C. § 1983, alleging that the Commission had taken its property without just compensation by refusing to approve the proposed development. The jury found that respondent had been denied the "economically viable" use of its property in violation of the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and awarded damages for the temporary taking of respondent's property. The District Court entered an injunction requiring the Commission to apply the 1973 ordinance and regulations to the project, but granted judgment notwithstanding the jury's verdict for the Commission on the taking claim, concluding that the temporary deprivation of economic benefit from respondent's property, as a matter of law, could not constitute a taking. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that application of government regulations affecting an owner's use of property may constitute a taking, and that the evidence supported the jury's finding that the property had no economically feasible use during the time between the Commission's refusal to approve the plat and the jury's verdict.

Held:

1. Even assuming, arguendo, that government regulation may effect a taking for which the Fifth Amendment requires just compensation,

and assuming further that the Fifth Amendment requires the payment of money damages to compensate for such a taking, the jury verdict in this case cannot be upheld because respondent's claim is premature. Respondent has not yet obtained a final decision regarding the application of the ordinance and regulations to its property, nor utilized the procedures Tennessee provides for obtaining just compensation, and its claim therefore is not ripe. Pp. 186–197.

(a) Although respondent's plan for developing its property was rejected, it did not then seek variances that would have allowed it to develop the property according to its proposed plat. Cf. Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264. The record does not support respondent's claim that the Commission's denial of approval for respondent's plat was equivalent to a denial of variances. Thus, respondent has not yet obtained a final decision regarding how it will be allowed to develop its property. Respondent's contention that it should not be required to seek variances because its suit is predicated upon 42 U. S. C. § 1983 is without merit. While there is no requirement that a plaintiff exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a § 1983 action, the question whether administrative remedies must be exhausted is conceptually distinct from the question whether an administrative action must be final before it is judicially reviewable. Pp. 186-194.

(b) The Fifth Amendment does not require that just compensation be paid in advance of, or contemporaneously with, the taking. If a State provides an adequate procedure for seeking just compensation, the property owner cannot claim a violation of the Just Compensation Clause until it has used the procedure and been denied just compensation. Under Tennessee law, a property owner may bring an inverse condemnation action to obtain just compensation for an alleged taking of property under certain circumstances. Respondent has not shown. that the inverse condemnation procedure is unavailable or inadequate, and until it has utilized that procedure, its taking claim is premature. Pp. 194–197.

2. Respondent's claim also is premature if viewed under the theory that government regulation that goes so far that it has the same effect as a physical taking, must be viewed not as a Fifth Amendment "taking," but as an invalid exercise of the police power, violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Resolution of the due process question depends, in significant part, upon an analysis of the effect the Commission's application of the ordinance and regulations had on the value of respondent's property and investment-backed profit expectations. That effect cannot be measured until a final decision is made as to how the regulations will be applied to respondent's property. No such decision had been made at the time respondent filed its § 1983 action,

because respondent failed to apply for variances from the regulations. Pp. 197-200.

729 F. 2d 402, reversed and remanded.

BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C. J., and BRENNAN, MARSHALL, REHNQUIST, and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which MARSHALL, J., joined, post, p. 201. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 202. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting statement, post, p. 200. POWELL, J., took no part in the decision of the case.

Robert L. Estes argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the brief was M. Milton Sweeney.

Edwin S. Kneedler argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Lee, Assistant Attorney General Habicht, Deputy Solicitor General Claiborne, and David C. Shilton.

G. T. Nebel argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was Gus Bauman.*

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of California ex rel. John K. Van de Kamp, Attorney General of California, et al. by Mr. Van de Kamp, pro se, N. Gregory Taylor and Theodora Berger, Assistant Attorneys General of California, Richard C. Jacobs, Craig C. Thompson, Richard M. Frank, Norman C. Gorsuch, Attorney General of Alaska, Jim Smith, Attorney General of Florida, Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General of Iowa, Francis X. Bellotti, Attorney General of Massachusetts, Hubert H. Humphrey III, Attorney General of Minnesota, Paul L. Douglas, Attorney General of Nebraska, Brian McKay, Attorney General of Nevada, George V. Postrozny, Deputy Attorney General, Gregory H. Smith, Attorney General of New Hampshire, T. Travis Medlock, Attorney General of South Carolina, Jim Mattox, Attorney General of Texas, Rufus L. Edmisten, Attorney General of North Carolina, Michael Turpen, Attorney General of Oklahoma, Robert L. McDonald, First Assistant Attorney General, Mark V. Meierhenry, Attorney General of South Dakota, David L. Wilkinson, Attorney General of Utah, Dallis W. Jensen, Solicitor General, John J. Easton, Attorney General of Vermont, Bronson C. La Follette, Attorney General of Wisconsin, Archie G. McClintock, Attorney General of Wyoming, Aviata F. Fa'Alevao, Attorney General of American Samoa; for the National Association of Counties et al. by Lawrence R. Velvel and Joyce Holmes Benjamin; for the City of New

JUSTICE BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court. Respondent, the owner of a tract of land it was developing as a residential subdivision, sued petitioners, the Williamson County (Tennessee) Regional Planning Commission and its members and staff, in United States District Court, alleging that petitioners' application of various zoning laws and regulations to respondent's property amounted to a "taking" of that property. At trial, the jury agreed and awarded respondent $350,000 as just compensation for the "taking." Although the jury's verdict was rejected by the District Court, which granted a judgment notwithstanding the verdict to petitioners, the verdict was reinstated on appeal. Petitioners and their amici urge this Court to overturn the jury's award on the ground that a temporary regulatory interference with an investor's profit expectation does not constitute a “taking" within the meaning of the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment,' or, alternatively, on the ground that even if such interference does constitute a taking, the Just Compensation Clause does not require money damages as recompense. Before we reach those con

York by Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr., and Leonard Koerner; and for the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, by Charles L. Siemon, Wendy U. Larsen, and Michael S. Davis.

Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American College of Real Estate Lawyers by Edward I. Cutler, Eugene J. Morris, and John P. Trevaskis, Jr.; for the California Building Industry Association by Gideon Kanner; for the National Apartment Association by Jon D. Smock and Wilbur H. Haines III; and for the Pacific Legal Foundation by Ronald A. Zumbrun and Robert K. Best.

Morris A. Thurston, Robert K. Break, and John L. Fellows III filed a brief for Irvine Co. as amicus curiae.

"[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The Fifth Amendment's prohibition, of course, applies against the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226, 241 (1897); see also San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. San Diego, 450 U. S. 621, 623, n. 1 (1981).