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Four days later

A stack of case files on his desk, Scott Bullock looked at the clock. It was already after five. He grabbed a cup of coffee and settled in for a late evening at the office. Suddenly his computer notified him he had incoming e-mail. The subject line read: “ED papers served on two.” It had come from Amy Hallquist. Bullock opened the message and read:

Hi Scott, I just got a call from Susette Kelo. She stated that two property owners got served ED papers today. They are Billy Von Winkle, who owns three buildings, including the Fort Trumbull Deli, and Rich Beyer, who owns two properties on Goshen.

Looks like things are heating up. Amy.

The timing could not have been worse. Bullock had a brief due on one case and was in the middle of difficult negotiations on another. In a couple more weeks he’d be clear to focus on New London, but not until then. He clicked REPLY and typed, “I know it is guesswork, but any idea on when Susette and the other core people may be served?” He clicked the SEND key.

Hallquist promised to monitor the situation closely.

Bullock had hoped to buy a few more weeks before making a final decision on whether to take on the City of New London, but the NLDC’s aggressive tactics convinced him he didn’t have three weeks. He e-mailed Hallquist again: “If the owners were offered legal representation by us (without charge of course), how many do you think from the particular parcels would likely fight the condemnation? We would take on a case if we thought it had merit even if there were one property owner willing to fight, but it is better to have at least a small group.”

Hallquist promised to get a head count.

Bullock picked up the phone and called Susette. “All right, here’s the latest,” he said. “We may be in a position in a couple of weeks to announce that we can represent owners who wish to fight.”

Susette shouted.

“Unfortunately, it could be a matter of timing,” he continued.

“What do you mean?”

“For instance, if condemnations start next week, we simply cannot do it due to other commitments.”

To Susette it didn’t seem fair.

“Hang in there, Susette,” Bullock said, promising to e-mail her and the core members of the Coalition to Save Fort Trumbull Neighborhood an update in a day or two.

As soon as Susette hung up, Tim LeBlanc showed up at her house. He said nothing while she checked her answering machine. She had a message from Claire’s assistant at the NLDC. He had identified some properties in the city that had an asking price comparable to what the NLDC was willing to pay Susette for her home. The NLDC wanted to schedule a time to show Susette the homes.

“Oh, my God, Timmy,” she shouted. “I can’t take this shit much longer.”

Bullock needed a better handle on Connecticut’s eminent-domain law. He asked his colleague, thirty-three-year-old Dana Berliner, to help him with the research.

Berliner hadn’t originally planned to be a lawyer. An expert in blood-vessel disease, her mother taught at UCLA’s medical school. Her father taught philosophy of education at California State University and ran the Ayn Rand Institute, named after the novelist who wrote The Fountainhead, which libertarians consider a bible. Berliner’s exposure to Ayn Rand had influenced her by the time she completed her psychology degree at Yale. Passionate about individual liberties, Berliner entered Yale Law School and set her sights on becoming a prosecutor in order to go after those who infringe on the rights of others.

By the time she obtained her law degree in 1991, however, Berliner figured it made more sense to protect people’s rights before violations occurred. Ayn Rand had also had a big influence on those who had formed the Institute for Justice. Berliner moved to Washington and took a position with the institute, where she quickly emerged as one of the firm’s most exhaustive legal researchers.

With things unfolding rapidly in Fort Trumbull, Bullock asked her for an update. She had bad news. Unlike in some states, the procedure