Michigan Supreme Court Overturns Poletown Decision
In a landmark eminent domain decision, County of Wayne v. Hathcock, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned its 1981 holding in Poletown Neighborhood Council v. Detroit. The Hathcock Court prevented Wayne County from transferring property from private owners to other private parties for construction of a business and technology park in a manner inconsistent with the Michigan 1963 Constitution's requirement that eminent domain be exercised for a "public use." In Poletown, properties had been seized in order to convey them to a private corporation for construction of an assembly plant. Poletown stood for deference to legislative judgments of what constitutes a "public purpose", and for the proposition that a generalized economic benefit was sufficient to transfer condemned property to a private entity. Following Hathcock, such transfers are appropriate when "public necessity of the extreme sort" requires collective action; "the property remains subject to public oversight after transfer to a private entity"; or the property is selected because of "facts of independent public significance," rather than the interests of the private entity to which the property is eventually transferred. County of Wayne v. Hathcock, No. 124070 (July 30, 2004)
March 25, 2004
Environmental Law Update 2004: The Practical Impacts of This
Year's Legal Struggles
Environmental Law Practice Group member Richard Samp will be a
panelist at a program the Environmental Law Institute's Endangered
Environmental Laws Program will host on Wednesday, March 31 at
the Capital Hilton (16th & K Streets, NW) in Washington, D.C.
Please click HERE
for details and registration information. (PDF)
