Eminent Domain Case Study

According to Cambridge dictionary, property is a building, area of land, object or objects that belong to someone (Property). Martin served many years on the force as a deputy and detective. He was an avid saver as well as a canny investor. Over the years, he has owned a share of mountain, coastal, and personal property in the state of North Carolina. Recently, Martin ran into some trouble to include: Peter’s son, Andrew taking out a personal loan and using his purported interest in the property as collateral; Otis firing a gun shot towards his head and mentioning that he’s lived on the mountain property openly and notoriously for approximately 20 years and that the property was his; his beach house property being taken by eminent domain;
Eminent domain is the power of a state or a national government take private property for public use (Property). Before anything, the city offices should have notified Martin ahead of time that his beach house was in jeopardy of being taken away. This could have been accomplished, by the city making an offer of some sort to purchase Martin’s property before resorting to an eminent domain (Council). According to Cornell University Law School, Kelo v. New London (04-108) 545 U.S. 469 (2005), the city invoked a state statute that specifically authorizes the use of eminent domain to promote economic development (Hashmall). It was appropriate here, since the main purpose was to resolve the challenges of individual owners, not on a piecemeal basis, but rather in light of the entire plan, unquestionably serving a public purpose (Hashmall). However, this is not the case for Martin. The “Future home of the Tar Heel Family Resort” was being built with hopes of attracting new businesses and jobs, not necessarily being used for public or civic services as well as economic development. In other words, this new feature was more of a main attraction to help their business