Long Branch Tries to Deprive Property Owners of Their Attorneys of Choice

November 03, 2006 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

by Timothy Sandefur

Not satisfied with stealing people's property and giving it to private developers, the city of Long Branch, New Jersey, now wants to bar local home and business owners from being represented by our friends at the Institute for Justice. The IJ attorneys filed a routine motion for admission pro hac vice–which is what a lawyer always does when taking a case in another state. But the city has objected to the motion, arguing that IJ's attorneys aren't specialists in eminent domain! This ludicrous obstructionism is unfortunately typical of bureaucrats who pull out all the stops when hunting after citizens' property.