SALEM, Ore., March 30, 2015—The NFIB Small Business Legal Center, representing the nation’s small business community, on Friday, March 27, joined with Pacific Legal Foundation in filing a brief asking the Oregon Supreme Court to affirm that Oregon property owners deserve compensation when the state obstructs, or otherwise impedes, access to and from private property
According to the amicus curie brief, “this case asks whether a landowner whose property abuts a highway is entitled to present evidence of substantially impacted value when the state acquires the landowner’s right of access in a condemnation action. Here, as part of a project to improve SW Pacific Highway in Tigard, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) brought a condemnation action against Alderwoods (Oregon), Inc. to acquire a temporary easement for work areas and to condemn ‘all abutter’s rights of access’ between the land and the highway … Before trial, ODOT filed a motion in limine, asking the court to bar Alderwoods from introducing any evidence showing that the elimination of existing curb cuts and driveways impacted the value of the land.”
“It is well established that access points, to and from public roads, are valuable property rights, and that the government must therefore pay a landowner if it seeks to take away an existing access point,” said Luke Wake, senior staff attorney for NFIB’s Legal Center. “The Constitution demands just compensation whenever valuable property rights are taken by government.”
Added Jan Meekcoms, Oregon state director for NFIB, “Eminent domain issues are always a huge concern for small-business owners. And where the State is carrying out a public works project, all we ask is that it compensate landowners fully and fairly.”
The entire amicus brief can be read here.
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
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