Atlantic Yards Case Heads to U.S. Supreme Court; More Legal Action Lay Ahead

Property owners and tenants filed an appeal late yesterday in U.S. Supreme Court for their case contesting the use of eminent domain in the $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project, an action that legal experts have said is likely to be the final chapter for the federal lawsuit, first filed in late 2006.

Even a favorable Supreme Court ruling for the plaintiffs (which would require a decision by the Court to hear the case in the first place) would not necessarily stop the use of eminent domain—it would only allow for the case to reach the trial phase.

If the lawsuit is dismissed, Matthew Brinckerhoff, attorney for the owners and tenants, said that there would still be an option to file an eminent domain case in New York State court.

“We still have the option to go to state court and proceed with the claim,” Mr. Brinckerhoff said. “That decision hasn’t been made.”

If the Supreme Court did decide to hear the case, a decision that requires consent of four justices, it would likely issue an opinion some time in the late spring of 2009, Mr. Brinckerhoff said.

Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner and the state have received a string of wins thus far with lawsuits brought by tenants, residents, critics and opponents, defeating at multiple levels another eminent domain suit and a challenge to the project's environmental review.

Still, with the cases pending, the property owners have said the state cannot proceed with land seizures, and would be unable to do so for some time to come should an eminent domain case proceed on the state level.

Much of the property acquisition is needed to clear the way for a basketball arena for the Nets, the first portion of the project to be completed. Forest City chairman Bruce Ratner acknowledged in a recent Times article that other portions of the project have been delayed amid the tough economic climate.