Blunt picks Blackwell lawyer for eminent domain group: Kansas City (KS) Business Journal, 7/20/05

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has chosen Spencer Thompson, a lawyer with Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP, for a nine-member task force designed to review state and federal eminent domain laws.

The Eminent Domain Task Force also will set up criteria that state and local governments can follow when considering the use of eminent domain, Blunt said in a written release Wednesday. The task force also will recommend specific eminent domain legislation for consideration by the General Assembly.

Blunt said he decided to create the task force because of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against homeowners in Connecticut who fought to prevent a private developer from taking their property for commercial use. Blunt signed an executive order June 28 creating the task force, which will remain active until Dec. 31 and will get help from the state departments of agriculture and economic development.

Terry Jarrett, Blunt's general counsel, is the task force's chairman.

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