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The abuse of eminent domain—where government takes private property against the owner’s will—is a nationwide problem. But New York property owners face a particularly outrageous system not only fraught with abuse, but set up to prevent property owners from challenging such abuse under state procedures. On Wednesday, October 4, 2000, the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice filed a federal lawsuit to change that. The suit was filed in Manhattan in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
"New York’s eminent domain law defies both common sense and the Constitution," said Dana Berliner, a senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, which is representing the property owners for free. "In New York, there are only 30 days when you can object to the government taking your property to give it to another private party. Those 30 days come and go without any individual notice to the owner, a proper hearing, or notice of the right to appeal, all of which are required by the Constitution. Those who face the loss of a home, business or church receive less due process than a kid being suspended from school."