Huge Property Rights Victory in Ohio

Jacob Sullum | July 26, 2006

The Ohio Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the city of Norwood's attempt to take property in an allegedly "deteriorating" neighborhood and hand it over to a private developer. The court called the "deteriorating" label, applied to areas that are admittedly not "blighted" but might (or might not) become so one day, a "standardless standard," and it rejected the "economic development" rationale for the use of eminent domain that the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed in Kelo v. New London. The Institute for Justice, which represented the property owners in the case, calls the decision "a complete and total victory for Carl and Joy Gamble, Joe Horney, the Burtons and every home and business owner in the State of Ohio."

Here is the opinion.