OCA Honors Hannity & Colmes for Contributions in Protecting Property Rights

On Tuesday, January 6, the Owners’ Counsel of America will present the Crystal Eagle Award to Sean Hannity & Alan Colmes, of Fox News “Hannity & Colmes,” in recognition of their contributions to protecting and promoting private property rights and exposing eminent domain abuse.

Subsequent to the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, Hannity & Colmes have led the news media in exposing eminent domain abuses across the country. Through numerous televised segments recounting eminent domain cases nationwide, Hannity & Colmes brought the topics of eminent domain and Kelo to the forefront of conversation.

In exposing eminent domain abuse, Hannity & Colmes featured the stories of individual private landowners, like Johnnie Stevens, a decorated WWII Veteran from Carteret, NJ who fought in his last days to stay in his home. Mr. Stevens was represented by the New Jersey law firm, McKirdy & Riskin, and attorneys Anthony Della Pelle and Edward McKirdy.

Hannity and Colmes also featured OCA attorneys Alan Ackerman and Andrew Brigham. Mr. Ackerman and his client, Ed Hathcock from Romulus, Michigan won a ruling in Michgan Supreme Court denying the county’s use of eminent domain to take private property for private redevelopment. Mr. Brigham and his client, Tom Scholl, owner of Keystone Coal Company, Jacksonville, Florida, defeated the Jacksonville Port Authority’s slow take of the property by securing a jury verdict valuing the property at $67.4 million. Jaxport regarded the verdict as too high a price to pay and chose to abandon the taking, allowing Keystone to retain ownership of the property.

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