Missouri Supreme Court Enforces Post-Kelo Legislation Limiting Takings for Economic Development
As reported by WatchDog.org, the Missouri Supreme Court recently rejected the Southeast Missouri Port Authority’s attempt to use eminent domain to take private property for use in connection with interstate transmission of North Dakota crude oil. (A copy of the opinion is here). The government intended to take undeveloped Mississippi River water-front property from Velma Jackson and Alicia Seabaugh, and then lease it to a private company who intended to construct a tank farm on the property.
Missouri, along with many other States, revised its eminent domain laws after the infamous City of New London v. Suzette Kelo case (see one of our blogs on that story here) to limit the use of eminent domain for “economic development.” The Missouri Supreme Court found that the proposed taking was prohibited by the new post-Kelo legislation barring takings for “solely economic development purposes.”
Certainly a win for property rights advocates!
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