Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [87]
Bullock wanted to know when and how the homeowners challenged the city’s attempt to take their homes. “In most states,” he said, “there is a condemnation action filed by the city, and then you raise a defense and you are a defendant.”
Not in Connecticut, Berliner explained. “The only thing you can do is file an objection to the amount of compensation being offered in the statement of compensation.”
Bullock laughed sarcastically. Under Connecticut law, once a municipality decided to take a person’s home, the homeowner could question the amount of compensation, but not the taking itself?
“It gets worse,” Berliner said. “Once the statement of compensation is filed, title automatically transfers to the condemning authority.” She read directly from the statute: “Upon the recording of such certificate, title to such property in fee simple shall vest in the municipality … At any time after such certificate of taking has been recorded, the agency may … take whatever action is proposed with regard to such property by the project area redevelopment plan.”
The nature of Connecticut’s law put property owners at a huge disadvantage. In New London, people were being told to get out, no questions allowed. Bullock insisted this had to be unconstitutional. Under the due-process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a property owner had to be afforded an adequate opportunity to be heard before the government deprived an owner of real estate. People in New London were entitled to some sort of hearing before losing their homes, he felt.
Berliner read Bullock’s mind. “There is only one way to challenge the legality or constitutionality of the condemnation,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“You become the plaintiff and have to file your own lawsuit.”
“Wait a minute,” said Bullock. “We have to file our own lawsuit in response to this?”
Berliner removed her glasses and smiled. In Connecticut, the statement of compensation filed by a municipality was the equivalent of a lawsuit against a property owner. But there was no provision in the law to challenge or defend against the lawsuit. Susette and her neighbors had one option—they had to file a lawsuit challenging the taking.
Bullock had never encountered a similar situation. Normally he defended homeowners who had been sued by a condemning authority. In those instances, a defendant typically had thirty days to respond. But Susette and her neighbors wouldn’t be responding to a suit; they’d be initiating one. He wondered what kind of filing deadline they’d face. Berliner wasn’t sure either. Connecticut law didn’t contemplate such suits, so it gave no guidance on timing.
“The sooner the better, I guess,” Bullock said.
The next day, Bullock composed an e-mail to Susette and key members of the coalition:
Hello all: As promised I want to give you a status report. We have been conducting extensive research on Connecticut law … and eminent domain. Also, we have been extremely busy on other cases and will continue to be throughout the next 7–10 days. In fact, I will be out for most of next week.
But with all that being said, I am pleased to report that we are growing increasingly confident that there are several ways of challenging the takings of the remaining properties in Fort Trumbull and we may be in a position in a couple of weeks to announce that we can represent owners who wish to fight it. Unfortunately, it could be a matter of timing. If condemnations start next week, we simply cannot do it due to other case