Defending Property Rights: Bill Brody, Port Chester, NY
For years, bureaucrats across the country have been able to bulldoze private property rights with eminent domain abuse without even blinking—and in New York, they didn’t even give you a chance to fight back.
New Yorker Bill Brody is all too familiar with this unjust situation. In the late 1990s, he bought four buildings in Port Chester, NY, renovated them, and rented space out to business tenants. The Village of Port Chester granted him the renovation permits, but neglected to mention a key detail: they intended to later take his property using eminent domain and hand it over to a private company with a larger, tax revenue-boosting development plan.
Because state law, at the time, didn’t require government agencies to notify property owners directly, all local bureaucrats had to do was publish a legal classified ad in the newspaper—and if the victim didn’t file a lawsuit within 30 days of the ad’s publication, they had unknowingly waived their right to challenge the decision.
Bill Brody didn’t stand by to watch the government bulldoze his property rights and his livelihood. Instead, he joined with the Institute for Justice, who helped him secure a victory for property rights. In 2005, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Village of Port Chester violated Brody’s 14th Amendment right to due process when they decided to take his property with eminent domain without notifying him of his right to challenge the decision. The law has since been amended.
At the end of March, the case returned to New York, where Brody sued the Village of Port Chester and the developers for damages for his wrongly-condemned property, which was demolished in 2004. The results of that case are pending, but one thing is certain: property owners across New York can thank Bill Brody for his work to protect property rights and due process.
Visit the Institute for Justice to learn more.
