Here’s a sampling of eminent domain cases that have made the news, according to the Associated Press
- In Marietta Ga. the Cobb County School Board, after a long battle negotiating the price, agreed to buy land for a new softball field and tennis court for $3 million. During a 2015 rebuild, Walton High School used the land it had for the softball and tennis teams. Having the girls’ team play off campus while the boys’ team played on campus put the school at risk of violating the Title IX law that protects female athletes from discrimination.
- A gas company in Wyomissing, Pa. is challenging an eminent domain rejection to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying it needs land to build a natural gas pipeline through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The PennEast Pipeline Company is trying to acquire land that is preserved for open space and farmland. A federal appeals court, in September 2019, sided with New Jersey officials.
- The Salvation Army in Derry, N.H. decided in 2019 not to fight the taking of its property for a road project. The Army paid $500,000 for the site just a year earlier, but state officials seized the property through eminent domain for a project on Interstate 93. The state plans to compensate the owner for the property.
