Court rules that Aqua Indiana entitled to a jury deciding its value, not city of Fort Wayne
“In what could only be construed as a rebuke to municipalities – and, in particular, Fort Wayne in a specific case – that are seeking to be aggressive through the use of eminent domain in order to acquire private property, the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed that an Aqua America subsidiary condemned by the city has the right to have the value of its holdings determined by a jury.
The decision in Utility Center and Aqua Indiana vs. the City of Fort Wayne is rooted in an action that the city took in 2002, when it condemned the north portion of Aqua Indiana’s two local holdings – the other is in southwest Fort Wayne, and condemnation has also been threatened for that utility.
The judgment from the state Supreme Court explains that when a municipality moves to use eminent domain and attempts to assess damages, the person or entity having property taken not only has the right to remonstrate, it also has the right to appeal the final determination of value by the board – and that appeal would not have to be heard by the Board of Public Works that initiated the condemnation proceedings in the first place.”
News Sentinel 12 April 2013.