(Sports Network) - The New Jersey Nets may have moved a step closer to breaking ground on a new basketball arena in Brooklyn, thanks to a judicial decision made last week.

The Appellate Division of New York's State Supreme Court, Second Judicial Department, unanimously rejected an opponent's lawsuit that challenged the state's use of eminent domain to seize property for the arena.

According to a New York Times report, the 20,000-seat arena that the Nets would use is a part of a 22-acre development project, which includes apartments and an office tower, called Atlantic Yards. The project is headed by developer Bruce Ratner, the Nets' principal owner.

The decision, which was made Tuesday and announced Friday, said "the condemnation does not violate the Public Use clause of the New York Constitution because it cannot be said that the public benefits which the Atlantic Yards project is expected to yield are incidental or pretextual in comparison to the benefit that will be bestowed upon the project's private developer."

Opponents have delayed the proposed plan in the last several years, arguing that taking the property violated the Public Use clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They asserted that the public uses of the development were pretexts for Ratner's private benefit.

The Times' report said Ratner, planned to break ground on the $800 million arena by October, and that he was "overjoyed." However, it also quoted an opponent as saying the legal battle was not over.







































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