Apex and a residential property owner are in a legal dispute about installing a sewer pipeline on her land to benefit another development. | Stock Photo
Apex and a residential property owner are in a legal dispute about installing a sewer pipeline on her land to benefit another development. | Stock Photo
Jon Guze, North Carolina attorney and director of legal studies for the John Locke Foundation, a Raleigh-based nonprofit think tank, said an Appeals Court should reverse a judge’s decision granting a sewer easement to the City of Apex, that it violated a woman’s property rights.
“This is clearly an unconstitutional taking,” Guze said in a John Locke Foundation press release on Aug. 6. “If Apex prevails, the town’s behavior sets an alarming precedent for every North Carolinian. Property owners will be stripped of the only protection they currently have against eminent domain abuse.”
In 2016, Apex installed a sewer line across Beverly Rubins property, which a Superior Court judge ruled violated North Carolina's Constitution, the press release said. As a result, Apex was ordered to pay for removing the sewer line.
Apex was operating under the principle of “Quick Take Eminent Domain,” which allows towns to use private property while condemnation proceedings are underway, the press release said.
The Apex and Rubin case has been litigated multiple times, the foundation said in the press release, but the municipality continues to pursue legal action. Attorneys for the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and Guze supported Rubin’s case.
Guze said North Carolina law allows condemnation to be used only to benefit the public, but the sewer line in question is for a private developer.
“The Court of Appeals should reverse Judge Collins’ decision, affirm the judgment in favor of Rubin and order the Town of Apex to remove the offending sewer line,” Guze said. “We must put municipalities on notice that property rights are fundamental in North Carolina law and in a free society.”
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