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Ohio high court reins in eminent domain.

Article Excerpt
Applying a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling on property rights, the Ohio Supreme Court has held that municipalities may not invoke the doctrine of eminent domain to take private property solely for economic development.

The U.S. Supreme Court's highly publicized decision last year in Kelo v. New London upheld a Connecticut city's authority to take private property for economic development, but it left the door open for states to restrict such takings. (545 U.S. 469 (2005).) The Ohio Supreme Court was the first state high court to hear a case on this issue since Kelo.

In Norwood v. Horney, the Ohio court held 7-0 that municipalities may consider economic factors, but "the fact that the appropriation would provide an economic benefit to the government and community, standing alone, does not satisfy the public-use requirement" of the Ohio constitution, wrote Justice Maureen O'Connor. (2006 WL 2096001 (Ohio...

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