Yearly Archives: 2008

Yesterday, the Institute for Justice released the following press release regarding the recent lawsuit filed by Dallas, Texas Developer H. Walker Royall against author Carla Main, Professor Richard Epstein and Ms. Main’s publisher, Encounter Books, regarding Ms. Main’s book: Bulldozed: “Kelo,” Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land. The book can be purchased online at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594031932/

Thanks to Alan Ackerman for bringing to our attention on his blog the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial below commenting on the successful ballot initiative proposed by Owners’ Counsel of America Member, Kermitt L. Waters, Las Vegas, Nevada. Kermitt L. Waters and the attorneys at The Law Offices of Kermitt L. Waters have a combined 70 years experience defending Nevada landowners against eminent domain.

The fifth annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference and presentation of the 2008 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize was held the weekend of October 17th at the College of William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. The 2008 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize was presented to Professor Robert C. Ellickson, the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Property and Urban Law at Yale Law School, during a candle lit dinner in the historic Sir Christopher Wren Building – America’s oldest academic building.

The following article appeared in The Detroit News on Friday, September 12, 2008. The article does not mention that the initial offer made by the Road Commission to Mr. Awdish was $7,000. Disclosure: The property and business owner, Frank Awdish, is represented by OCA attorney, Alan Ackerman, Ackerman, Ackerman & Dynkowski, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

October 1, 2008 – The Institute for Justice released the following story about the eminent domain battle over private property in Nashville’s Music Row.

Victory for Music Row Entrepreneur Joy Ford
In Nashville Eminent Domain Dispute
Ford Keeps Her Building & Gets More Land,
Conflict Settled through Private Negotiation, Not Government Force

This article appeared in the ABA’s Probate & Property Magazine, May/June 2008 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

The Perils of Prior Appraisal
By Michael Rikon, Esq.

In a NY Sun article yesterday, NY State Senator Bill Perkins, Democrat from Harlem, is said to be calling for a moratorium on eminent domain and a possible push for greater restrictions on the use of eminent domain. “I don’t know of too many other issues where you have such diverse and pervasive outrage,” Perkins said in a recent interview.

Professor Gideon Kanner has begun a blog series discussing some well-known eminent domain cases, including Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, Kelo v. New London, Poletown Neighborhood Council v. City of Detroit. Visit Gideon’s Trumpet here, here, here and here for a look back at some of these infamous cases.

DETROIT, MI — The Detroit News published a story recently regarding a Michigan Court of Appeals decision in favor of a private landowner. The appellate decision upheld in part a lower court ruling that the Detroit International Bridge Company did not have the right to condemn private property for access improvements. The three-judge panel ruled that MDOT did not intend to transfer its power of eminent domain to the private company via its agreement with the bridge company. Both courts ruled that only the government may utilize condemnation.

TRENTON, NJ (August 7, 2008) — A three judge panel of the New Jersey Appellate Division entered an opinion in favor of Long Branch homeowners reversing a previous decision in the Superior Court and remanding the matter back to the lower court for rehearing.