Read the latest in eminent domain news from around the state of Texas:
In Texas Supreme Court case, state argues bullet train developer can’t use eminent domain
Source: The Texas Tribune
The Texas attorney general’s office has put its weight behind a landowner’s case against the companies developing a controversial Dallas-Houston bullet train, arguing they can’t force people to sell parcels needed for the high-speed rail project.
In a legal brief filed with the Texas Supreme Court on Friday, deputies for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued the high court should reverse an appellate decision and rule in favor of Leon County landowner James Miles because the companies fall short of the Texas Constitution’s definition of a rail company.
Biden administration ordered to return land to a Texas family fighting federal land seizures for the border wall since 2018
Source: Business Insider
A Texas federal judge ordered President Joe Biden’s administration to return property to the Cavazos family, whose land was seized by the federal government for Trump’s border wall in 2018.
Groups file federal complaint over I-45 project, urge civil rights review
Source: Houston Chronicle
Critics of the plan to remake Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston filed a nearly 100-page complaint to federal officials Thursday, urging even greater scrutiny of the project’s effects on minority communities, an analysis they say state highway officials consistently have avoided.
SpaceX offered $150,000 for a waterfront home next to its launch facilities, but its owner says that’s one-third of the price of similar properties: report
Source: Business Insider
Celia Johnson, a resident of South Texas village Boca Chica, told NBC News that SpaceX wanted to buy her house for $150,000 but that the company’s offer was one-third of the price of similar properties nearby.
Johnson and Maria Pointer, another Boca Chica resident, said that a real-estate agent representing Elon Musk’s company had told them their properties could be seized by the state under eminent domain.
