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Can you say eminent domain?

We lawyers like to joke about eminent domain and the high unlikelihood that this will occur, especially with retail malls. Of course, thanks to the horrible Keto decision, you can take someone's house to build a hotel.

That's because we are not in Venezuela. According to Peter Maclennan, Hugo Chavez apparently decided he didn't want a shopping mall to be finished and opened, so he announced that the mall will be "expropriated," or condemned. Malls are not socialistic enough, but a hospital or school is all right.

No, I do not see this happening in the US, even with an Obama administration. :) Seriously, though, I guess this is a reminder never to set aside anything as an impossibility. I have found from experience that when you say, "It'll never happen," it often does.