Poletown Legal Milestone plaque placed

Left to right: Michigan Bar Michigan Legal Milestone Subcommittee Chair Michael Ellis, Law-Related Education and Public Outreach Committee Chair Jeffrey Paulsen, and the Hon. Paul Paruk, chief judge of the 31st District Court in Hamtramck, stand with the recently placed plaque.The marker is in Zussman Park, outside the Hamtramck City Hall, which houses the 33rd District Court, and commemorates the 1981 Poletown decision (Poletown Neighborhood Council v. Detroit), when, in an effort to bolster Detroit's crumbling economic base, a working-class neighborhood known as Poletown was demolished to make way for a new General Motors plant. This action was challenged by homeowners and small businesses in the area, but was rebuffed by the Michigan Supreme Court in a landmark 1981 decision. The ruling had national ramifications and set a new standard by expanding the power of eminent domain and allowing the definition of public use to include economic development. In 2004, the Court reversed itself (County of Wayne v Hathcock).For more information on the Legal Milestones program,visit http://www.michbar.org/programs/milestone/milestones_home.cfm. Published: Wed, Jan 6, 2010

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