BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
The Institute for Justice emails that the battle to save a Nashville businesswoman's property from theft-by-eminent domain abuse at the hands of the city of Nashville, which would than turn the property over to a private developer, is not over.
On Friday, August 29, at 9 a.m., Joy Ford will appear in court for the first time, along with her lawyers from the Institute for Justice, to fight to save her small country music recording and publishing business from an illegal and unconstitutional eminent domain action.
In June 2008, Nashville's redevelopment agency, Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA), filed a condemnation petition against Country International Records located on storied Music Row. MDHA wants to give the property to a Houston-based private developer to put up a generic office building.
Now, in an audacious and unfounded move, MDHA's lawyers - who are being paid by the private developer that will benefit from the condemnation - have filed a "motion for judgment on the pleadings," asking the court to hand over Ford's property on the basis of the four-page condemnation petition filed by the agency. MDHA seeks to deny Ford any discovery in the case and wants the judge to order possession immediately rather than hold a trial and hear evidence.
"If MDHA gets its way, it will become impossible for any home or small business owner in Tennessee to prevail against an abuse of eminent domain," said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a national non-profit, public interest law firm located in Arlington, Va., that serves as the nation's leading legal advocate against eminent domain abuse.
Bullock added, "Courts should actually review evidence in eminent domain cases rather than merely rubber-stamping what the agency wants. We are confident MDHA's motion will fail." Bullock argued the Kelo v. New London eminent domain case before the U.S. Supreme Court and was co-counsel in the first post-Kelo state supreme court case that ended eminent domain for private gain in Ohio.
Whatever you think of what ought to happen with Joy Ford's property, you have to agree that allowing the city to win an eminent domain case by muzzling the property owner goes against every standard of fair play and equal justice for all that America stands for.
The hearing is scheduled for the courtroom of Judge Barbara Haynes, Room 510, 3rd Circuit Court, Metropolitan Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201. If you can spare a few hours Friday morning to go and support Joy Ford, please do so.
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