From
The KDDK Advantage - January 2007
Indiana Statute
Curbs Eminent Domain Abuse
Late last year Indiana
Governor Mitch Daniels signed House Bill 1010, a legislative
response to a 2005 Supreme Court decision in the eminent domain case Kelo
v. New London. Many consider HB 1010 to be the most significant response in any
state to this Supreme Court decision.
In Kelo v. New London,
the U.S. Supreme Court held that the government had the
power to condemn private homes and transfer them to private
developers
— without
violating the Public Use provision of the Fifth Amendment — if done to revitalize
the local economy. In response, HB 1010 restricts the power of eminent domain
in Indiana by prohibiting its use for private development except in cases
where the condemned property is a nuisance, dangerous
to the public, not fit for
its intended use, or has been abandoned.
HB 1010 also requires
the government to compensate owners 125 percent of the
value of condemned property, pay attorney’s fees for
certain property
owners,
and pay other damages, including business losses, when eminent domain is
used for private development.
In addition, the new
law requires the government to: 1) establish a proposed
purchase price; 2) provide the owner with an appraisal or other evidence
used to establish the proposed purchase price; and 3) conduct a good
faith negotiation
with the property owner before proceeding to acquire property by use
of eminent domain. A property owner may receive litigation
and attorney expenses
if
the property owner is awarded greater compensation at trial than the
government offered in its last settlement offer.
All of these changes
make Indiana’s new eminent domain law significantly more
protective of private property rights than the previous
law.
Mike
DiRienzo practices
in the areas of civil litigation, municipal law, real
estate, business law, construction
law, constitutional law and bankruptcy, collections & creditors
rights. He can be contacted at mdirienzo@kddk.com or
812-423-3183.
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