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NY High Court Overturns Ruling: OK's Columbia U's Eminent Domain Use

 


Back in December I reported that the New York State Supreme Court awarded two small businesses a big victory over Columbia University, ruling that property owners can't be forced to give up land the school needs for an expansion project.
The court ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation a state agency tried to stack the deck in Columbia’s favor and called the project a "Scheme". The court said that NY state "colluded" with Columbia to produce the very conditions that would then allow ESDC to seize property. The court ruling said "taking the properties to benefit an elite private university is unconstitutional and unwarranted.
This week, in a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals overturned the lower court ruling that prohibited the state from using eminent domain to take property in the 17-acre  Columbia expansion zone west of Broadway, known as Manhattanville, without the owners’ consent.
The ruling held that the courts must give deference to the state’s determination that the area was “blighted” and that condemnation on behalf of a university served a public purpose, two ways that the project could qualify for eminent domain under state law.
The ruling cited an earlier decision in ... more

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