www.ij.com
Targets Include Book Author, Publisher, Law Professor Richard Epstein
and Newspapers that Published Book Review
Dallas, Texas-In perhaps the most striking example of a disturbing
national trend, Dallas developer H. Walker Royall has launched a lawsuit
spree to silence any media or public affairs commentator who dares
expose his attempted abuse of eminent domain. Similar suits have been
filed in Tennessee, Missouri and elsewhere by developers and governments
looking to silence critics of eminent domain for private gain.
Royall worked with the city of Freeport, Texas, to try to condemn a
generations-old shrimp business owned by the Gore family to make way for
a luxury marina. The project became the subject of the book, Bulldozed:
"Kelo," Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land, authored by
veteran legal journalist Carla Main. Bulldozed tells the story of
Freeport's plan to take the Gore's waterfront property for Royall's
luxury marina development project. Only hours after the U.S. Supreme
Court's infamous Kelo v. City of New London eminent domain abuse
decision, the city instructed its attorneys to redouble their efforts to
seize the Gore family business. Bulldozed unravels why, after years of
litigation, the threat of condemnation continues to hang over the Gores.
The book was reviewed in many newspapers, including The Wall Street
Journal, was nominated for the Texas Historical Commission's annual T.R.
Fehrenbach Book Award and it won a highly competitive independent press
award for political science writing.
After journalist Main wrote her book exposing the Freeport land grab,
Royall sued her as well as her publisher, Encounter Books, for
defamation. He even sued nationally renowned Law Professor Richard
Epstein who wrote a blurb for the book's dust jacket. When someone
reviewed the book, he sued him. When two newspapers published that
review, he sued them.
Today (Wednesday, December 10, 2008), the Institute for Justice Texas
Chapter (IJ-TX) filed a notice of appearance with the Dallas County
District Court in order to vindicate the right of author Main, her
publisher and Professor Epstein to freely debate eminent domain abuse.
"Rather than try to defend his indefensible effort to have the
government take someone's land for his private development project, H.
Walker Royall sues and sues and sues and sues," said Matt Miller,
executive director of the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, which is
defending the book's author, the publisher and law professor Epstein.
Earlier, when the Gores-the original victims of Royall's eminent domain
abuse effort in Freeport-complained against Royall's actions, he sued
them for defamation. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Main is a veteran journalist who was an associate editor of The National
Law Journal, where she edited the opinion page and wrote a column on law
and society. She wrote for The Wall Street Journal, Policy Review,
National Review, The American Lawyer and The New York Sun, among other
publications.
Before becoming a journalist, Main practiced as an attorney in New York
City for ten years.
"The book was a labor of love," said Main. "I researched it
meticulously and gave Mr. Royall multiple opportunities to be
interviewed. His primary complaint about the book seems to be that I
described him as participating in an economic development taking, which
he did."
Richard Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor
of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, where he has taught
since 1972.
He also teaches at the New York University School of Law. Epstein has
published 14 books. His Torts and Cases and Materials on Torts
textbooks are widely used in law schools across the country. In 1985,
Epstein published Takings: Private Property and Eminent Domain, a book
about the Fifth Amendment and the limits of the government's power to
use eminent domain to take private property. The book has been cited
four times by the U.S. Supreme Court. Takings is an essential book in
the debate about eminent domain and property rights in America.
Epstein was sued by Royall over a small blurb on the back cover of
Bulldozed. Epstein said, "It is a sad day in the life of America when a
powerful individual like H. Walker Royall, who has complete access to
the media, thinks that the appropriate response to criticism is to
remain silent and then to bring a defamation action against those who
comment on his deeds." Writing an admiring blurb is not something
Epstein ever expected would get him sued. "There are few times in my
professional career when I've been flabbergasted and this is definitely
one of them," said Epstein, who has been a law professor for more than
40 years. Epstein's blurb reads, in its entirety: "Like a Greek
tragedy unfolding, Carla Main's book chronicles the eminent domain
struggles in Freeport, Texas, which pitted the Gore family, with its
longtime shrimp business, against the machinations of an unholy alliance
between city politicians and avaricious developers. If you have ever
shared the Supreme Court's unquestioned deference to the public planning
process that shaped its ill-fated Kelo decision, you'll surely change
your mind as you follow this sordid saga to its bitter end.
You'll never look at eminent domain in the same way again."
Encounter Books is a non-profit publisher that promotes democratic
culture with a catalogue of award-winning and important books.
Encounter Books has more than 100 titles on topics including religion,
military affairs, Greek civilization and current events. Roger Kimball,
president and publisher of Encounter Books, also publishes The New
Criterion magazine. Kimball said, "There is the First Amendment, which
I think is very much at stake in this case. There is also the broader
issue of public education."
"Eminent domain for private gain is the subject of nationwide public
debate," said senior attorney Dana Berliner, who was co-counsel in the
Kelo case and who will help direct this litigation. "If Walker Royall
didn't want anyone to talk about him or his development deals, he
shouldn't have made a deal to develop a private marina using public
money and someone else's land. The Constitution protects people who
talk about important issues like eminent domain abuse by governments and
private developers. If developers don't want people writing about them,
then they shouldn't be involved with government's abuse of eminent
domain."
The freedom to learn about eminent domain abuse is also at stake because
Royall is asking the court to stop the presses on Bulldozed, preventing
anyone else from reading the book. "Mr. Royall should tell the public
why he doesn't like Carla Main's book, rather than try to censor it,"
said Wesley Hottot, an IJ-TX staff attorney.
Founded in 1991, the Virginia-based Institute for Justice fought the
landmark legal battle to protect property rights in the U.S. Supreme
Court, arguing Kelo v. City of New London in 2005. The Institute has
successfully defended eminent domain abuse activists sued for speaking
out in St. Louis, Mo., Clarksville, Tenn., and Renton, Wash.
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