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If The Feds Grab Your Land, Why Can't You Get A Jury Trial On Compensation?
Forbes ^ | December 22, 2017 | George Leef

Posted on 12/22/2017 1:36:54 PM PST by reaganaut1

In 2009, the federal government decided to take property from Kevin Brott and other landowners in Michigan for a recreational trail. That was done under the Trails Act, which allows the government to turn abandoned railroad lines into hiking trails.

There is nothing inherently wrong in that, but under the Fifth Amendment, whenever government takes private property for public use, it is required to pay the owners just compensation. The problem is that under federal statute (the Tucker Act), property owners are only allowed to submit their claims for compensation to the Court of Federal Claims (CFC) if the amount in question exceeds $10,000.

Crucially, in the CFC, there are no juries. Thus, in an important class of cases, Americans are denied their Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury.

When Brott sued, the federal district court for Western Michigan held that the Tucker Act was perfectly legal and thus it had no jurisdiction. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s ruling in a decision released in May.

If the Sixth Circuit’s decision stands, a large hole will have been blown in the right of property owners to obtain just compensation when their land is taken.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: eminentdomain; fed; landgrab
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1 posted on 12/22/2017 1:36:54 PM PST by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

I the wall ever gets built....then it’s ok to take land away...


2 posted on 12/22/2017 1:39:18 PM PST by Dallas59 (Only a fool stumbles on things behind him.)
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To: reaganaut1

Unconstitutional...I don’t care what any of those black-robed tyrants say....it isn’t right as it “bypasses” a citizen’s constitutional rights.


3 posted on 12/22/2017 1:44:27 PM PST by lgjhn23 (It's easy to be liberal when you're dumber than a box of rocks.)
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To: reaganaut1
I'm not familiar with this case. I would have presumed that the railroad would still own a right of way even if the track is unused, or even taken up. Did the railroad hold title? Or did the railroad merely have an easement? Was the railroad paying taxes or doing any maintenance work on the property? If the railroad had been abandoned and neighboring landowners started encroaching on the right of way, is there state law governing abandonment, and does abandoned property revert to the state? I suppose there are many variations on the pattern.

I don't pretend to know much about the law in this area, but in the rails to trails situations with which I'm very casually familiar, the railroad still owned the property and then either transferred it outright or granted an easement to a local government unit for purposes of a trail. Neighboring landowners would have had nothing to do with this.

4 posted on 12/22/2017 1:46:46 PM PST by sphinx
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To: reaganaut1

Because a jury of your peers will give you more money than the Government wants to pay.


5 posted on 12/22/2017 1:48:03 PM PST by Wolfie
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To: sphinx

My thoughts as well.


6 posted on 12/22/2017 1:49:36 PM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Free Republic has been reduced to a gathering place for the inane, banal, and obtuse.)
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To: Wolfie

They use the endangered species Act to take the ability to use your land without paying you..

This case with the rail right of way is different...Where I live they have built a fifty mile bike path and spent millions so the bikers do not have to cross busy streets..bridges..


7 posted on 12/22/2017 1:54:16 PM PST by Hojczyk
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To: reaganaut1

Theft. When the government does it, it’s fascism.


8 posted on 12/22/2017 1:55:48 PM PST by I want the USA back (Politicians willingly sacrifice White Christians to their real god: muzzies)
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To: sphinx

It appears the rail road used the land based on an easement. When the rail road ceased operation, the easement terminated and full ownership was returned to the actual owner.

https://pacificlegal.org/case/brott-v-united-states/

Yes, this is a government screw job, especially if the easement was forced upon the original land owner by the govt in the first place.


9 posted on 12/22/2017 2:02:18 PM PST by redfreedom
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To: reaganaut1

Wayne Hage of Tonopah, Nevada filed his lawsuit against the Feds in the Court of Federal Claims-—which was the main reason he won.

However-—Trump needs to get the payment PLUS INTEREST due to his family ASAP. The FEDS have been tap dancing ever since they lost Wayne’s lawsuit.


10 posted on 12/22/2017 2:08:09 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: reaganaut1
Crucially, in the CFC, there are no juries. Thus, in an important class of cases, Americans are denied their Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury.

Why is this considered, in any way, legitimate?

11 posted on 12/22/2017 2:17:36 PM PST by Edward.Fish
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To: sphinx
In VT, a railroad returned unused track land that was taken by eminent domain to the current holders of the deeds from which it was carved.

Then young legislator, future governor, future wannabe candidate for POTUS, Howie Dean got a state bill passed to turn the land into bike paths. Then Burlington mayor, future US senator, Bernie Sanders, supported the bill.

Some twenty years later, the USSC sided with the current deed holders.

12 posted on 12/22/2017 2:21:31 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

“Some twenty years later, the USSC sided with the current deed holders. “

I rest my case! The SCOTUS needs a thorough overhaul including a definition of their WORK OBLIGATIONS. I am really tired of seeing critical decisions languish around the SCOTUS for years. They are like a bunch of “doctors” who only pick at scabs, but never treat the wound completely.


13 posted on 12/22/2017 2:35:22 PM PST by vette6387
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To: reaganaut1

I believe Texas and Nevada are the only two states that allow you to file a land patent and thus attain your allodial rights. Its up for debate as to whether the feds could still take your land, but allodial rights do protect you from eminent domain by local and state government.

I’ve heard from others that there is a process in every state for filing a land patent...but they make it as difficult and mysterious as possible.


14 posted on 12/22/2017 2:40:06 PM PST by Katya
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To: reaganaut1

A lot of words, but not one of them said that they actually own the former RR property. If they have a deed, lets see it. If not, does it fully meet the rare requirements of the law on a one-sided transfer of ownership.

If they cannot produce one or the other, they stole the land and now want to keep the true owner from using it. Just living next to property that someone is not using does not automatically mean that the title of the property transfers to you.

I hate articles like this that don’t cite a single fact, but just troll.


15 posted on 12/22/2017 3:26:02 PM PST by jim_trent
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To: Wolfie

BINGO!


16 posted on 12/22/2017 5:56:01 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Katya
I have two adjoining pieces of property that are crossed by high-tension lines. the ELECTRICAL company has an easement. They PAY ME occasionally for the right privilege of crossing my land.
17 posted on 12/22/2017 5:59:26 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Calvin Locke

The government used eminent domain to force the sales of homes in Doodletown NY (Rockland County, south of West Point) to build a “ski center” as part of Bear Mountain State Park. The center was never built, but the park kept the land - the last of a few hamlets they had seized in the 20th century for the park. The “hill people”, some of whom had families going back before independence, were sh!t out of luck; lawyers and preachers tried but failed to stop the state.


18 posted on 12/23/2017 5:29:49 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: kearnyirish2
When William Weld was governor of MA, there was a puff piece on him mentioning a grandmother (or the like), a Republican that owned a big parcel of land on LI.

The local Dems had their eyes on the land, and when they finally got a majority to force a sale, she struck first by gifting it to the Feds.

19 posted on 12/23/2017 9:29:09 AM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Elsie

As it should be!


20 posted on 12/23/2017 12:23:43 PM PST by Katya
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