For most Floridians, the threat of local government taking their property to give to another private party ended a decade ago when the state Legislature changed the law to prohibit using eminent domain to take property from one person to give to another.

But one legal case — involving the fight of siblings Dino Paspalakis and Lisa Psaros to maintain the Joyland Amusement Center that they inherited from their father on the Daytona Beach boardwalk — continues, and the Florida Supreme Court is now deciding whether to hear it.

Boardwalk at Daytona Development v. Paspalakis is a cautionary tale about what can happen to smaller businesses when government and larger businesses decide to collude against them. And a decision in the case could have far broader effects than just in the area of eminent domain. It would also address the ways government and private developers repeatedly break their promises to private citizens and the general public — and determine whether courts will start to hold these oath breakers to their word or continue letting them get away with cheating innocent people with promises they will not keep.