Brinkmann's Hardware Asks Supreme Court to Hear Appeal in Southold Case

Attorneys for a hardware store are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments in the proprietors’ bid to undo the Town of Southold’s condemnation of land on which a store was planned.

Sayville-based Brinkmann’s Hardware’s lawyers petitioned the nation’s top court after a panel of judges at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled 2-1 to affirm a lower court ruling that rejected the store’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the town’s decision to seize the store’s two-acre vacant lot in Mattituck to preserve it as open space. The plaintiffs, who have stores all over Long Island, argue that the town abused its use of eminent domain to block the local chain from building a 12,000-square-foot store.

“Courts do not inquire into alleged pretexts and motives,” the appeals court judges wrote in their ruling. The lone dissenting judge countered: “The court’s decision grants governments virtually unlimited power over private property — as long as the governments are willing to act in bad faith.”

Brinkmann’s, which is represented by the Manhattan-based law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, reportedly purchased the lot for $700,000 in 2016 and the town later enacted a construction moratorium in the area. The hardware chain said in court documents that Southold’s plans for building a park were “a sham.”

“The Supreme Court has in recent years paid careful attention to the plain language of the Constitution and this case is an opportunity to be clear that eminent domain cannot be used in bad faith to stop lawful businesses,” said Institute for Justice Attorney Jeff Redfern.

“This is about more than our family business,” Hank Brinkmann, who co-owns the local hardware chain with his brother, said in a statement. “Our case is about defending the right of everyone’s family business to stay in business when they play by the rules. We look forward to asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop eminent domain abuse.”