Supreme Court rules against property owners - Industrial, Diversified - Industrial Products & Services - Economy

Supreme Court rules against property owners - Industrial, Diversified - Industrial Products & Services - Economy: "June 23, 2005

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Local governments may seize individuals' businesses and homes to promote economic development, the Supreme Court ruled in a split decision Thursday.

In a closely watched case, petitioners from New London, Conn. challenged the government's use of eminent domain to take and pay for private property and use it for private economic development.

Home and business owners' contention that economic development doesn't qualify as public use 'is supported by neither precedent nor logic,' Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority."