HOUSTON, Aug. 18, 2026 – Baker Botts L.L.P., a leading international energy, technology, and life sciences law firm, secured a significant appellate victory for pro bono client Blake Warner before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

In Warner v. Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts, the court held that the clerk violated Warner’s rights under both the Due Process Clause and the Takings Clause when it seized $3,600 that he had deposited in a court registry. The published decision reinforces the constitutional protections that apply before a government may treat privately owned funds as abandoned and take them for public use.

The clerk had Warner’s working email address, telephone number, and another mailing address at its fingertips, but did not even attempt to use them. Instead, it mailed notice to an address that had repeatedly proved invalid, despite receiving 12 prior returned notices from that address. That mailing also came back undelivered, becoming the 13th returned notice. The clerk then published notice in a predominantly Spanish-language newspaper reaching less than 0.2 percent of the county’s population.

The clerk then treated Warner’s silence as abandonment and took his $3,600 for public use.

The Eleventh Circuit held that the clerk’s notice efforts were not reasonably calculated to reach Warner when more direct and practical methods of contact were readily available. The court also ruled that the clerk could not infer abandonment from Warner’s failure to respond to constitutionally deficient notices that he never received.

The decision establishes important precedent for government administration of unclaimed property laws. Although the court declined to invalidate Florida Statute § 116.21 on its face, it held that the clerk’s application of the statute violated due process and resulted in an unconstitutional taking of Warner’s property without just compensation. The court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded the case for further proceedings.

“The government cannot take someone’s property based on notice it had every reason to know it would fail,” Associate Megan Tankel, who argued the appeal, said. “We were proud to stand with Blake to vindicate a basic constitutional protection and reinforce that fundamental protection for property owners.”

Baker Botts Lawyers/Offices Involved:

Litigation: Aaron Streett (Partner, Houston); Megan Tankel (Associate, New York) 

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