California Eminent Domain Report

This week marks the nine-year anniversary of the Kelo v. City of New London decision.  Since I've been practicing as an eminent domain attorney, Kelo is unquestionably the most well-known and stirring court opinion, creating widespread reform to the use of eminent domain across the country -- even on the opposite coast in California.  Last time I checked, about 45 states had passed some sort of eminent domain reform in response to the Kelo decision.

If you're interested in learning more about the Kelo decision, stay tuned for the film Little Pink House, which is being produced in cooperation with the Institute for Justice.  The movie is expected to start production early next year.  You can find out more about the film on our colleagues' blogs, such as Robert Thomas' inversecondemnation.com and Ilya Somin's volokhconspiracy.com.  

The Kelo anniversary also has a bit of a unique meaning to me as I write this post from Hartford, Connecticut, just a short drive from the prior site of Ms. Kelo's pink house in New London.  I am here representing our local Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter at the International Right of Way Association's (IRWA) annual conference.  Having thousands of right-of-way professionals gather once a year to share industry and educational information is invaluable.  But having the conference so close to the situs of the famous Kelo case gives it a unique meaning, and hopefully reminds everyone that what we do is powerful:  the government's taking of property must be exercised delicately, fairly, and judiciously.