Family-Owned Business Overturns Eminent-Domain Ruling

Bob Blue is staying put. Since March, the future was uncertain for his family-owned luggage shop on the posh corner of Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood, Calif.

We last spoke to Blue in the June/July 2006 issue of MyBusiness, when we featured him and other small-business owners who were caught in local eminent-domain battles. The story focused on a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that gave local governments the right to condemn and seize private property for outside private development.

Bernard Lugguage, founded by Blue's father in 1943, was targeted by some local council members who backed a neighborhood redevelopment project. Their project called for demolishing the historic building where Bernard Luggage was located to make room for high-end boutiques, restaurants and a hotel.

But thanks to Blue's determination, and help from the NFIB Legal Foundation, the city decided yesterday to include the Blue's building in the redevelopment plans.

"I am really proud of this decision and the agreement everyone was able to come to," Blue told this CBS affiliate. "I think this is a benefit, not only for Hollywood, but for all of L.A., and I think it's a plan that the rest of the state can look at as a way to do business."

Not all the surrounding business owners were as fortunate as Blue. Twenty will still be forced to relocate or shut down.