A Fulton County, Georgia, Superior Court judge is set to hear oral arguments in a case challenging a private railroad company’s attempt to use the state’s eminent domain power to take private land from several owners in rural Hancock County.
Tomorrow, Judge Craig Schwall will hear arguments in the case involving the Sandersville Railroad, which in March 2023 asked the Georgia Public Service Commission for the authority to condemn land.
In September 2024, the Georgia Public Service Commission ruled in favor of Sandersville, saying the project serves a “legitimate public purpose.” Critics have called the move “unfeasible” and a “naked wealth transfer.”
In May 2023, land owners Don and Sally Garrett partnered with the Institute for Justice to fight the push. After other property owners in the path of the train sought to intervene in the case, the railroad then sought to condemn their land as well.
The railroad now seeks to take the property belonging to 16 people.
The Garretts’ land has been in Don’s family since his family moved to Georgia in the 1800s. Also fighting for their property are members of the Smith family, Blaine and Diane Smith, and Marvin and Pat Smith.
Blaine and Pat’s great grandmother was born a slave on the property, which was then a cotton plantation. In the 1920s, the grandparents were able to obtain the land and the family has farmed it for generations.
Following the PSC ruling, the property owners and IJ appealed the case to the Fulton County Superior Court.
The railroad that will primarily serve a rock quarry owned by a multinational corporation based in Europe.
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