Appeals court sides with land owners in eminent domain case
“The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with a group of about 70 farmers and rural landowners in affirming that Idaho cities have no authority to use eminent domain to route power transmission lines outside of municipal boundaries.
The landowners, operating as the Alliance for Property Rights and Fiscal Responsibility, sued in state court in March of 2012 to prohibit the City of Idaho Falls from condemning land in unincorporated Bonneville County for a transmission project.
The case was moved to federal court based on the landowners’ claims that condemnation would violate their 14th Amendment due-process rights.
“(The city) had told our clients negotiations had come to an end and the next step would be to condemn their property,” said Brent Whiting, attorney for the landowners.
In its Dec. 31 decision, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel upheld a prior ruling against the city by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.
“Neither the Idaho Constitution nor the Idaho Legislature has expressly or impliedly given Idaho’s cities that power,” Judge N. Randy Smith wrote on behalf of the Ninth Circuit panel.”
O’Connell, John. Capital Press 3 January 2014.