Tag: eminent domain/condemnation

Posted on Jul 10, 2009 in News & Events

Here are some things that caught our attention over the past week or so…

Posted on Jun 17, 2009 in News & Events

Jun 16, 2009 – Port Chester, NY – The village of Port Chester publicly apologized to property owner William Brody for improperly seizing his commercial property by condemnation nearly in 1999. In a settlement that ended the decade-long battle between the property owner and the village, Port Chester paid the property owner $475,000, formally apologized from the steps of the Village Hall during a settlement signing ceremony and re-named the street corner where his commercial buildings previously stood “William Brody Plaza.”

Posted on Jun 11, 2009 in News & Events

Recently, the Institute for Justice released the following press release regarding the lawsuit filed by Texas Developer H. Walker Royall against author Carla Main and publisher, Encounter Books, regarding Ms. Main’s book: Bulldozed: “Kelo,” Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land. The Institute for Justice represents Ms. Main and Encounter Books in this defamation suit. Bulldozed is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For more about this story see our previous posts here.

Posted on May 20, 2009 in News & Events

A story in the community news section of the Mooresville Tribune caught our attention today due to it’s snappy title “Sewer line and cows don’t mix, so town and farmer reach agreement.” Of course, at first one might be interested in reviewing the article simply because it is about sewer lines and cows, but it was the second part of the title that caused us to stop and read. It is not often that one hears about a well-negotiated agreement between government and property owner. Therefore, it is our opinion that this story is worth repeating.

Posted on May 8, 2009 in News & Events

On Tuesday (May 5, 2009) a Cook County, Illinois jury awarded Ema Mae “Babe” Ahern $25 million for the taking of her 95-acre golf course and country club property in the Village of Evergreen Park on Chicago’s South Side. News stories about the jury trial and the property owner, Babe Ahern, reported that Ms. Ahern has lived on the property since her birth 101 years ago and that she continues to actively run the golf course and club, her family’s business.

Posted on Apr 17, 2009 in News & Events

In January the Wisconsin Law Journal featured an article entitled “DOT wants to cap legal fees for eminent domain takings.” The author explained that WisDOT had proposed the changes as part of it’s 2009-11 budget and as a result of an increase WisDOT had seen in the payouts between 2004 and 2007 resulting from taking private property by eminent domain. (See our 1/15/09 post here.)

Posted on Apr 15, 2009 in News & Events

On Monday, Maryland’s House voted 93-43 to pass emergency eminent domain legislation allowing the State to condemn the horse racing assets of Magna Entertainment. Yesterday, O’Malley signed SB 1072 (Chapter 3 of the 2009 Legislative Session) into law, effective April 14, 2009. SB 1072 authorizes “the State to acquire by purchase or condemnation the private property rights relating to the Pimlico Race Course, the track known as Laurel Park, the Bowie Race Course Training Center, the name, copyrights, service marks, trademarks, trade names, contract rights, business entities, stocks and horse racing events that are associated with the Preakness Stakes and its trophy, the Woodlawn Vase, and certain other private property.”

Posted on Apr 15, 2009 in News & Events

Apparently, reason magazine was interested in running an article about developers attempts to curb free speech with respect to criticisms about eminent domain abuse. reason was considering discussing the recent defamation suits filed by a Dallas-based developer against a property owner, an author, a law professor, a publishing company and two newspapers for their comments and/or writings about an attempted taking by eminent domain of the property owner’s land for redevelopment into a luxury marina project.

Posted on Mar 26, 2009 in News & Events

Mississippi Senators voted Thursday to uphold Gov. Barbour’s veto of HB 803. Although 28 Senators voted in favor of overriding the veto, 22 Senators voted to sustain the veto and the required two-thirds majority vote for an override was not met. This is a dramatically different result than the unanimous vote just a few weeks ago in favor of HB 803 .

Posted on Mar 26, 2009 in News & Events

Next Tuesday, IJ will hold a press conference on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol at which time IJ will release its mid-term report card on the state’s legislative proposals to reform eminent domain laws. Texas property owners from Freeport, El Paso, San Antonio and Houston who have been affected by eminent domain are expected to join the conference.