“Little Pink House” - A movie review from the perspective of an eminent domain lawyer

Guest Post

By Dwight Merriam. Connecticut Member of Owners Counsel of America
www.ownerscounsel.com
http://www.ownerscounsel.com/attorneys/dwight-h-merriam/


If you think the arcane subject of eminent domain, the right of the government to take private property for public use, would not make a great movie, you have yet to see Little Pink House. Courtney Balaker, who wrote the screenplay and directed the film, does a superb job of showing the interplay of law, politics, and people caught up in roughshod redevelopment leading to more damage than good. I attended the premier to a sold-out house of 1,300 people in New London, and it was clear that Kelo is a genuine hero who will always be remembered for her remarkable fight on behalf of all the other ordinary folks who are victimized by eminent domain. See the movie. It’s a good one. Rotten Tomatoes reports an Audience Score of 93%; Avengers: Infinity War is 92%. I’ll bet you’ll cheer and laugh and come to tears as the audience did at the premier when you watch Kelo’s story unfold. And then, you’ll ask if this could happen to you. It could…

This movie, released on April 20th, is the saga of a very real person, Susette Kelo, formerly of New London, Connecticut – “formerly” because the New London Development Corporation took her beloved home and sent her packing.

Her story, and that of her displaced neighbors, is heartbreaking. I have followed the story closely as I co-edited a book for the American Bar Association on the case in 2006, a year after the US Supreme Court rejected her challenge to the taking.

The 5-4 decision upholding the land grab was not, as a matter of law, remarkable because it followed precedent, but it awakened the public to the awesome and often abused power of government to take private property. During the oral argument in the US Supreme Court the government’s lawyer conceded that the government, if it wished, could take a Motel 6 and flip it to a developer for a Ritz Carlton, all in the name of redevelopment. The blowback from the widely-criticized decision was a change in the laws in 43 states to limit government takings. Looking back, it became a case of the government winning the battle but losing the war.
And here we are, 13 years later, and the wasteland that was a great Fort Trumbull neighborhood of happy homeowners, some with deep roots dating back to the 1880’s, lies fallow. Nothing developed. No public use. Nothing for the public’s benefit.

The movie is based on the true story as told by Jeff Benedict in his most-readable book of the same name. Kelo is portrayed by Catherine Keener, who played Missy Armitage in Get Out (2107) and was nominated for Oscars for her roles in Being John Malkovich (1999) and Capote (2005). She is as close to being Kelo as anyone I can imagine.