09/ 20/ 2006
The NFIB Legal Foundation has been working nonstop to fix a problem started by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. In Kelo vs. the City of New London, the court said local governments have the right to condemn and seize private property for other private developers. Since then, some city officials across the country have had dollar signs in their eyes--at the expense of small-business owners.
But a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court should put other states on alert. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled this summer that economic development may not be the sole reason for government to seize private property for eminent-domain purposes. The NFIB Legal Foundation filed a brief in the case on behalf of small-business owners and homeowners in Norwood, Ohio, who were in danger of losing their private property to a private developer.
