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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Law - Ohio Supreme Court issues long awaited eminent domain ruling today

Here is the report from the Cincinnati Enquirer, titled "Eminent domain abused: Ohio Supreme Court overrules Norwood home-taking." Some quotes:

The city of Norwood cannot use “deteriorating” as a standard for blight to justify the taking of homes by eminent domain, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled this morning.

In holding parts of Ohio’s eminent domain law unconstitutional, the state’s highest court set a different course than the U.S. Supreme Court did in its landmark Kelo v. New London decision last year. There, the Supreme Court ruled that a Connecticut city’s taking of property for economic development was constitutional – but made clear that state constitutions could set different standards for property rights.

The Norwood case is expected to be closely watched around the country. It was the first major eminent domain case to reach a state Supreme Court since Kelo. * * *

The unanimous decision, written by Justice Maureen O’Connor, found the state’s eminent domain law unconstitutional for several reasons:

• It allows the taking of private property for solely for economic development. “We hold that although economic factors may be considered in determining whether private property may be appropriated, the fact that the appropriation would provide an economic benefit to the government and community, standing alone, does not satisfy the public-use requirement of Section19, Article I of the Ohio Constitution.”

• Similarly, the standard that Norwood used to take the properties – the fact that the neighborhood was “deteriorating” – is too vague of a concept to justify the taking.

• The appeal provisions of the eminent domain law – prohibiting property owners from appealing the government’s right to take until after a jury determines the compensation – denies the property owners their right to due process.

Here is a link to today's 58-page opinion, Norwood V. Horney.

The Enquirer has been anticipating this ruling for several months and has written a number of stories on it. The Enquirer has a special page on eminent domain, with links to the stories, as well as to the briefs in the Norwood case. And here is a list of entries about the Norwood case in the ILB.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 26, 2006 11:30 AM
Posted to General Law Related