The abuse of Eminent Domain for “private use” has been in the news a lot lately. The following is a true story of our own Marshalltown’s past abuse of it.

Any Eminent Domain for “private use” can be extremely abusive and devastating. Marshalltown and its mayor set a prime example of abusing eminent domain in 1993 when they tried to use it under the guise of “public use” to take “private property” from a small family corporation (Gene Harris Antique Auctions Inc.) and transfer it for the “private use” of a large billion-dollar corporation (Lennox Industries).

This was long before Kelo v. New London (2005), when the U.S. Supreme Court redefined “public use.”

Before Kelo, eminent domain could not be used for private property transfers to private corps such as Lennox. The government action could not be categorized as “private use”. But Marshalltown charged ahead with eminent domain anyway and was sued for it. The city dropped the eminent domain action but was hell bent on continuing negotiations for only the largest part of “Harris” property which would have put 3 generations of family out of business if the city or Lennox did not replace it.

It must be noted that at the time, Harris Inc. (1950 – 2002) which was a nationally recognized, highly respected and reputable antique auction house throughout the U.S., and was attracting an unprecedented 5,000 visitors annually to Marshalltown from all over the U.S. to its auctions. Also, note after meeting with Harris Inc. in April of 1993, when the city and mayor were told not to make any commitments to Lennox, the City of Marshalltown and its mayor committed Harris Inc. property to Lennox Industries in an incentive package against the Harris Inc.’ will and without their knowledge of doing so.

From then on, the Harris family could no longer trust the City of Marshalltown or its mayor and was forced to have lawyers involved in all negotiations for the next 2 years. Negotiations got nowhere as the City nor Lennox failed to offer any form of equal replacement of land and structures Lennox wanted to take in order to keep the Harris business in operation. The cost of all this going on for years financially devastated the Harris business.

After years of the Harris family fighting for their livelihoods, Lennox finally dropped their demand for their property because neither the City of Marshalltown or Lennox Industries was willing to pay the local estimates to relocate their business. But the damage was already done. The long process and emotional toll they put three generations of the small Harris family through was the punishment for not giving in and giving up their property and livelihoods to a billion-dollar corporation.

Because of this, Harris Inc. struggled financially for its remaining years and Marshalltown has since lost out on over 5,000 visitors from throughout the U.S. per year ever since. To date, that would be approx. 115,000 visitors and counting. Think about Marshalltown’s monetary loss for a moment.

I was a Vice President at Harris Inc. during all this. I have extreme knowledge of all that took place during these times as I was directly involved in the negotiations and was privy to the discovery from lawsuits. I’m here to tell you that if the threat of “eminent domain” or the years-long continuing obsession to take property from Harris Inc. without replacing it, along with the financial devastation that we suffered because of it, I am most certain Harris Inc. would have continued to this day. And Marshalltown’s many hotels, food establishments and shopping areas would not be losing out financially as well from 5,000 plus annual visitors. But those 5,000 annual visitors disappeared after 2002.

This all happened because of very bad decisions made by Marshalltown’s mayor, the City of Marshalltown, and the fact that Lennox Industries to begin with, failed to directly negotiate with the Harris family to replace their property that they so badly wanted and ultimately failed to get. Neither Harris Inc. nor the Harris family ever received any form of compensation what-so-ever, or even an apology from the City of Marshalltown, its mayor or Lennox Industries for their failed attempt of land acquisition. Eminent domain should never be used for “private use.” In this case, it was devastating for three generations working at Harris Inc. and Marshalltown businesses.

Kelo v. City of New London (2005) needs to be revisited by the U.S. Supreme Court, and be reversed so eminent domain for “private use” is illegal throughout the U.S. once again.

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Jeff Harris is the former vice president of Harris Inc.