News & Events

In a post Friday at Atlantic Yards Report, Norman Oder quotes Senator Bill Perkins at the NY Senate hearing on eminent domain reform, "This is not like instant rice... it's going to be an uphill battle, we're going to win, without a doubt, but I don't want us to think this is going to happen overnight… This is a struggle that is going to require our...

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The Senate Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, chaired by Senator Bill Perkins, conducted a public hearing yesterday (Tuesday, January 5, 2010) on eminent domain abuse in New York. The hearing entitled "Unconstitutional: What the Appellate Division’s Eminent Domain Ruling Means for the Columbia Expansion," focused upon the recent Appellate Division ruling against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in the proposed condemnation for expansion of Columbia University,...

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Kudos to Michael D. D. White (Noticing New York) for his amazing post (A Christmas Eve Story of Alternative Realities: The Fight Not To Go To Pottersville (Or Ratnerville) 12.24.09). White posted an eloquent adaptation of Frank Capra's 1947 film It's a Wonderful Life suggesting that if the movie were taking place in today's New York, the lead character, George Bailey, would find similar monopolies and abuses of power...

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Last month, Roanoke Judge William D. Broadhurst granted Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority's (RRHA) petition to take private property owned by Jay and Stephanie Burkholder (B&B Holdings, LLC) using the Authority's power of eminent domain. Judge Broadhurst indicated in his November 12, 2009 correspondence to counsel that although evidence had been presented by B&B's attorneys which "clearly suggests to the Court that the City was responding to pressure from...

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As we noted here previously, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the most recent property rights case to go before the bench Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection.

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The Supreme Court has released the unofficial transcript for today's argument in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection. A pdf of the transcript is available here. More to follow once we have had time to read it.

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Yesterday Fox Business News featured a segment on eminent domain with John Stossel. OCA Member and Institute for Justice Senior Attorney, Dana Berliner (co-counsel to Susette Kelo), and Jeff Benedict, author of "Little Pink House." Discussion focused on Kelo, Pfizer's recent announcement that it would leave New London and eminent domain abuse in general. Stossel also points to Anaheim, California as an example of how government can stimulate development...

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On Wednesday, December 2, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection, et al. For background on the case see our previous posts here and here as well as the case resource page on inversecondemnation.com by OCA Hawaii Member, Robert Thomas.

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In a decision released today, New York's highest court upholds 6-1 the use of eminent domain by the New York State urban Development Corporation d/b/a Empire State Development Corporation ("ESDC") for the multi-use Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

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In Tuesday's election, Texas voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposition 11, a constitutional amendment limiting the state's eminent domain powers. Prop 11 (H.J.R. 14, Article 1) limits the use of eminent domain for public use and specifically defines "public use" to specifically not include "the taking of private property for...transfer to a private entity for the purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenue purposes." (See "Analyses...

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