Eminent Domain and its Abuse

The concept of eminent domain comes from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The clause states "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation". 

This clause implicitly allows government entities to take private property for public use but requires the government pay the owner just compensation for the property. 

This is also known as the takings power. Ralph Nader & Alan Hirsch, Making Eminent Domain Humane, 49 Vill. L. Rev. 207, 207 (2004).

Courts have interpreted the "public use" requirement of government takings very broadly giving governments the power to take private property for as little as speculative economic development and removal of blight. Ralph Nader & Alan Hirsch, Making Eminent Domain Humane, 49 Vill. L. Rev. 207, 207 (2004).

Examples:

• Toledo, Oh 1999:

1. A couple who owned a small auto repair shop 300 yards from a Chrysler manufacturing plant had their business condemned and taken in favor of the plants landscaped green space plans. 

• Riviera Beach, Fl 2006:

1. The city council had a closed-door meeting and voted to allow the city to use its eminent domain powers to condemn and take 800 acres of the city for a redevelopment project, one day prior to then governor, Jeb Bush, signing a state law preventing that type of eminent domain use.  

• Iowa, 2019:

1. Iowa supreme court allowed the Iowa utilities board to use eminent domain to grant the Dakota Access Pipeline easements through individuals farmland despite the Iowa residents reaping no benefits directly from the pipeline.

Article connecting the decline of Detroit to the city's use of eminent domain takings. 

• How Eminent Domain Abuse Harms the Poor.

Law review article discussing the lack of social justice considerations in government takings cases, especially in economic development and blight removal takings.

• What is Property – Property is theft: the Lack of Social Justice in Eminent Domain Law. Janet Thompson Jackson, 84 St. John's L. Rev. 63 (2010).

Article suggesting Place-based laws that direct economic resources to low-income neighborhoods help existing residents remain in place and improve those areas.

• Hip-Hop and Housing: Revisiting Culture, Urban Space, Power and Law.

Article proposing that homeowners should not be subject to a redevelopment plan until the majority of those who would be covered under the plan have ratified it. It also argues that they should be given the right to continued occupancy of the redeveloped community by being offered replacement housing within the community.   

• 'We Shall Not Be Moved': Urban Communities, Eminent Domain and the Socioeconomics of Just Compensation.

1. Kelo v. Cty of New South London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005).

• Allowed government takings and transfer of private property to another private entity for the purpose of economic development but also allowed states to set stricter guidelines for the use of eminent domain. 

2. Berman v. Parker, 348 U.S. 26 (1954).

• Held that eliminating blight qualifies as public use. 

Every state has their own rules for the use of eminent domain. The Supreme Court set a floor in Kelo v City of New South London but allowed states to make their own guidelines more strict. Below is a short list of examples.

South Carolina:

• S.C. Code Ann. § 57-21-200.

• Allows the county to condemn and take private property for the purpose of highways, bridges, and ferries.

Florida:

• Fla. Const. art. X, § 6.

• Requires just compensation be made available to the private owner prior to the taking and restricts the use of eminent domain to give property to a private person or entity except as provided by general law passed by a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature.

Iowa:

• Iowa Code § 6A.1-24.

• Allows the use of eminent domain in areas designated at least 75% blighted. 

• Iowa Code § 479B.16

• Grants pipeline companies with a pipeline permit the ability to exercise eminent domain powers to the extent necessary as approved by the board.

Ohio:

• Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 303.38.

• Grants every board of county commissioners eminent domain powers for purposes of county renewal projects for addressing blight.