Did you know that if you own property, the government has the right to take it away? An ancient law called eminent domain enables the government to seize private property for projects it deems beneficial to “public use.” Usually the power of eminent domain is used for large public projects such as highways, railroads, and airports, but in recent years the definition of “public good” has been expanded to include projects that bring economic benefit (such as shopping malls), or can provide a solution to urban blight by fostering gentrification (as in the recent controversy over Columbia University’s expansion in Harlem). Although the United States Constitution requires “just compensation” for properties acquired by eminent domain, the compensation packages are rarely adequate — which is why there are high-powered law firms that specialize in handling eminent domain cases (see, for example, the New York city law firm Goldstein, Rikon & Rikon, which limits its practice exclusively to eminent domain and condemnation law).
What is particularly objectionable about eminent domain law is that property owners have no legal recourse, other than to file a claim for increased compensation. You can’t refuse to surrender your property, nor do you have any control over the impact that the mere threat of eminent domain can have on its value. In fact, by the time the state actually makes its “fair compensation” offer, property values in your neighborhood will have likely been demolished due to widely publicized notices about threatened acquisitions, and the state appraiser will base his/her estimates on those values, rather than on the values that pre-existed the project proposal (read Michael and Josh Rikon’s enlightening study of “Condemnation Blight”).
So eminent domain kind of sucks.
Eminent Domain Sucks 