'You Can't Take It' attorney: "I think Greg Abbott is playing dirty."
You Can't Take It' agrees to AG's terms
September 15, 2006
By Robert Nathan
Killeen Daily Herald
Copyright 2006
The Killeen-based company that promised to protect landowners – for a fee – from potential eminent domain proceedings in connection with the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project agreed to the terms set in a temporary injunction Thursday during a hearing before the 345th District Court in Austin.
Attorney General Greg Abbott sought the temporary injunction to stop the business "You Can't Take It" from continuing activity on grounds that the defendants may have violated parts of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.
By agreeing to the entry of the temporary injunction, the defendants agreed to cease all business activity, including advertising. The court also ordered the defendants to advise any financial or brokerage institution controlling any of its assets.
The company suspended its operations on Wednesday after the Texas Attorney General's Office notified it of the court hearing Tuesday evening.
"They agreed to everything we put in the temporary injunction, which will bind them over until trial," Tom Kelley, spokesman for the Texas attorney general, said Thursday afternoon.
Hale Stewart, a Houston attorney representing the company, said his clients have shut the company down and "are moving to the immediate settlement with the Texas attorney general."
"Basically, my clients' company doesn't have the money to fight this," he said.
The company claimed to have found a loophole in eminent domain procedures using the legal precedent established through the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Kelo vs. city of New London, to justify its business plan.
The company and Killeen residents Douglas Lee Thayer, Lou Ann Reed and her daughter Nykee Jolene Murray of Austin are defendants in the lawsuit.
"I'm not exactly to thrilled with all of the statements that have been made and everything that has been put out," Thayer said. "Everything they said is mistaken."
Stewart said the company has only been in business for a month and hasn't purchased any properties or done any other business.
"I frankly think it's a smear campaign from Abbott," he said. "I think Greg Abbott is playing dirty."
Based on the number of companies that open every day in Texas, he said he did not understand why his clients' company was singled out.
"Why is it that this one company that hasn't done any business," he said. "The Texas attorney general has shown a remarkably strong interest in this company. I find that really fascinating."
Based on the Kelo decision, Thayer claimed a company could block the state from taking any land through eminent domain.
The decision says that if an economic development project would provide an economic benefit in the form of higher tax revenues to a city, then that eminent domain could not override that project, Stewart said.
The Trans-Texas Corridor is intended to relieve congestion on Interstate 35. It will parallel I-35 and extend from Oklahoma to Mexico, with possible connections to the Gulf Coast. It would not only separate car and truck lanes, but it would also include railroads and underground utilities, such as telephone, water and gas pipelines.
"I don't think it is appropriate that the attorney general's office is used to protect the Trans-Texas Corridor," Thayer said on Thursday.
Contact Robert Nathan at ranathan@kdhnews.com
© 2006 Killeen Daily Herald.:www.kdhnews.com
September 15, 2006
By Robert Nathan
Killeen Daily Herald
Copyright 2006
The Killeen-based company that promised to protect landowners – for a fee – from potential eminent domain proceedings in connection with the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project agreed to the terms set in a temporary injunction Thursday during a hearing before the 345th District Court in Austin.
Attorney General Greg Abbott sought the temporary injunction to stop the business "You Can't Take It" from continuing activity on grounds that the defendants may have violated parts of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.
By agreeing to the entry of the temporary injunction, the defendants agreed to cease all business activity, including advertising. The court also ordered the defendants to advise any financial or brokerage institution controlling any of its assets.
The company suspended its operations on Wednesday after the Texas Attorney General's Office notified it of the court hearing Tuesday evening.
"They agreed to everything we put in the temporary injunction, which will bind them over until trial," Tom Kelley, spokesman for the Texas attorney general, said Thursday afternoon.
Hale Stewart, a Houston attorney representing the company, said his clients have shut the company down and "are moving to the immediate settlement with the Texas attorney general."
"Basically, my clients' company doesn't have the money to fight this," he said.
The company claimed to have found a loophole in eminent domain procedures using the legal precedent established through the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Kelo vs. city of New London, to justify its business plan.
The company and Killeen residents Douglas Lee Thayer, Lou Ann Reed and her daughter Nykee Jolene Murray of Austin are defendants in the lawsuit.
"I'm not exactly to thrilled with all of the statements that have been made and everything that has been put out," Thayer said. "Everything they said is mistaken."
Stewart said the company has only been in business for a month and hasn't purchased any properties or done any other business.
"I frankly think it's a smear campaign from Abbott," he said. "I think Greg Abbott is playing dirty."
Based on the number of companies that open every day in Texas, he said he did not understand why his clients' company was singled out.
"Why is it that this one company that hasn't done any business," he said. "The Texas attorney general has shown a remarkably strong interest in this company. I find that really fascinating."
Based on the Kelo decision, Thayer claimed a company could block the state from taking any land through eminent domain.
The decision says that if an economic development project would provide an economic benefit in the form of higher tax revenues to a city, then that eminent domain could not override that project, Stewart said.
The Trans-Texas Corridor is intended to relieve congestion on Interstate 35. It will parallel I-35 and extend from Oklahoma to Mexico, with possible connections to the Gulf Coast. It would not only separate car and truck lanes, but it would also include railroads and underground utilities, such as telephone, water and gas pipelines.
"I don't think it is appropriate that the attorney general's office is used to protect the Trans-Texas Corridor," Thayer said on Thursday.
Contact Robert Nathan at ranathan@kdhnews.com
© 2006 Killeen Daily Herald.:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, September 15, 2006
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