By the powers vested in me by the almighty Canadian Mist and Coca Cola, I proclaim this website to belong to me, the great and powerful Pangea, god of..........

Humph, er uh, Has anybody ever encountered the declaration of "eminent domain"? I have heard about it for many years but never seen it first hand. How does it work and are you compensated with fair market value? Thanks.

Canadian Mist taste's like crap. You should go with a higher quality whiskey.

It depends if its state/local or feds taking it. The states and feds have laws setting forth the process, the process controls how much you be offered for it by the agency/awarded by the courts.
In Michigan, nope, not even close.

Actually, I believe it's "imminent" domain.

You may wish to check on the different meanings of the two words.

And my family lost several hundred acres to the Tennessee Valley Authority under imminent domain so they could build a nuclear power plant...they levelled the land and abandoned the project.

Sore subject, you might say.

CJ

Websters II New Riverside University Dictionary

Page 428

eminent domain n. Law. A government's right to take private property for public use, usu. with compensation to the owner.

Not trying to be a smartass or anything but if your gonna call bullshit get you facts straight bro. [;p]

Hmm...then the family lawyer needs to be given that lesson, too.  I should have known better than to trust a lawyer...

CJ

Eminent Domain is simply the government's way of legally f*uking property owners (read taking your property) while operating within the guise of the law.

My pops is a Special Master for the State of Florida-it basically means that he is an expert witness that gets paid the big bucks by either the state or by those seeking his counsel. The man billed more for mileage last year than my wife and I made GROSS! His consulting fees are charged by the hundreds of dollars per hour-so you ask-what did I get for Christmas. A freaking basket from Hickory Farms. Thanks Dad!

Eminent Domain and Immunity from Prosecution are the two of the most insidious aspects of government today.

laws vary from state to state, but, in Michigan the gov't is supposed to compensate at fair market value. doesn't matter if its MDOT (dept of transportation) or perhaps a county road commission that wants your land to widen a road. dunno about fed stuff, i'd imagine it's similar.

i worked for an eminent domain lawyer as an undergrad. he would take 1/3 of the difference between the original offer and what he got for the property as his fee - he did quite well and his clients did too. all the cases i saw had near-insult lowball original offers.

get a lawyer. make sure he/she has been around for a while, and has good established relationships with appraisers who are plaintiff friendly.

Eminent Domain is another example of the erosion of Property Rights in the united States (Property Tax is another - just TRY not paying your property taxes every year!)

Eminent Domain is a mechanism by which the government - at most levels - can "sieze" your property for "the good of the public."  Eminent Domain is usually used for utility easements, railroad rights-of-way, roadways, and the like.

The "victim" is often compensated - but only considering base property value.  Eminent Domain Compensation will not account for "intangibles," minor improvements, "minor" internal improvements (plumbing, cabling, and the like,) and that sort of thing.  

Most Eminent Domain cases seem to be lowballed for compensation, but more research would be indicated in order to form an informed opinion for this...

Essentially, however, Eminent Domain is a load of steaming crap that just shows that our rights are slowly dissolving....

FFZ

What frosts my cake about eminent domain in Texas is how cities got the right to condemn private homestead property to resell to commercial developers under the justification the developer's commercial use will provide a higher tax base than the homestead.  I watched Fort Worth do just that to a group of homeowners so a developer could build a shopping center where the developer wanted.  That ain't right.

Arock -
 Do you have any sort of cite or confirmation for this?  I'd be VERY interested in getting more (confirmed) details...

 I'm not doubting your veracity, but more information is always a good thing...

Please hit me backchannel at [email protected] if you have anything to add!

FFZ

Out here in East Washington is a great example of imminent domain.

During the 1940s there were two little towns on the banks of the Columbia River.  The towns of Hanford and White Bluffs.  One day an Army officer came to town and told everybody they three weeks to get out of town.  The government was going to take over the land to build some type of new facility.  Later the people found out it was part of the Manhattan Project. However, they were not told anything.  No discussion, no arguments, no appeals.

The communities were great places to live.  Very scenic and comfortable living. The residents were all kicked out.  The two communities were leveled.  The only buildings standings are the shell of the school in Hanford and the bank in White Bluff.  It is very wierd to visit the town sites. You can walk down the streets of the city and see where the houses were, but no houses, no people.

Any time you think "they can't do that" come to Hanford Washington.

Right now, eminent domain and property taxes are the only two things that "force" you to become a responsible citizen who participates in the nation and society in which you live.

In that sense, they're good.

But like all Gov't powers - it doesn't take long for them to fully abuse these powers.

A necessary evil I suppose. Still hate 'em anyway though.

Sure thing...it happened 3-5 years ago in northeast Fort Worth at the intersection or Loop 820 and State Hwy 183.  If you search the Fort Worth Star Telegram or Dallas Morning News you'll find details.

I found the episode to be a travesty of injustice.  I wish I could be more helpful on short notice.  I'll try a search and get back to you.

**Found it:

[url]www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:NE42/1:NE420628100.html[/url]

Hey Now! Mist is one of the only things that I like coming out of canada.

[V]

FreeFireZone...go here:

[url]http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:NE42/1:NE420628100.html[/url]

The reason that I brought this up is that the great state of Tennessee is widening hwy 64 from Memphis to Chattanooga and in so doing is taking quite a bit of realestate. This is about 4 miles from my house and is going to take several of my brother in laws relatives land and houses. Funny thing is that the big landowners and wealthy; for this area,folks wont be troubled. Some of these houses to be taken are only about 5 years old and some are about 80. I will be interested in finding out how much the current owners will recieve. You should see the for sale signs along that road! There is two stacks of rock at the entrance of the Flintville Fish Hatchery that has been declared a nation monument or some such horseshit so 5 houses on the other side of the road will have to go. Man if it were my house versus those rocks, I'd use some anfo and make gravel out of them.

Not you DoubleFeed, just pointing out to Mr.Johnson that I was correct. Of course I had to look it up first before I posted cause I aint reel smart. I keep a well thumbed dictionary at my side when I ride a computer.

The right to property does not bar eminent domain. U.S. Const., Amend. V: "... nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; [red]nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. [/red]

Seems that if the Consitution talks about fair compensation for property taken for public use the FF's felt that it was within the scope of governmental power to convert private property to public use.

I don;t like property owners being "condemend" so a private developer can re-develop the property, ie the strip mall. That seems like private property taken for private use under the "color" of the government's authority.

It's tough, because you have to balance the desires of "the people" to have good road, direct routes, enough lanes etc. vs the private person who has the Right to be secure in their property. Of cousre there will always be someone who thinks and interstate should have to curve around their property...........

Eminent Domain: Yet another reason that we all should own at least a couple of 20mm rifles.

Not only that -- the original agreement was that if Hanford ever shut down or declassified, the land would be returned to its original owners.

Well, a couple of years ago, Hanford shut down to the point that they should have done that.  instead, the government decided that the area is so beautiful and wild, they're gonna turn it into a "protected wilderness" of some sort -- national park, national forest, or whatever.

Same sort of thing happened in the suburbs of Seattle recently -- an old railroad easement along Lake Sammamish was completely shut down.  Instead of returning full property rights to the actual owners of the land, King County decided to make it a bicycle trail.  So now the owners have to deal with the public tramping through their backyards.

Vin Suprynowicz has had several articles about how the city of Las Vegas fucked a parking-garage owner in the downtown area.  The owner was willing to sell the land to a casino, but the city condemned it under eminent domain, seized the property as a parking garage, and then sold it to the casino as casino-zoned real estate -- making a tidy several million dollars in the process. . . .

Oh.  Dude, you're fucked.  Tennessee screwed my family twice.  These people will be lucky to get half the value of their homes out of the bureaucRATs.