Archive | Just Compensation

EDPL Section 701

The Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed an award of $799,627 for reimbursement of legal and appraisal fees pursuant to Section 701 of the Eminent Domain Procedure Law.  The award followed a trial where the City of New York valued the Staten Island vacant land condemned at $611,000.  Goldstein, Rikon, Rikon & Levi, P.C. representing the claimant, Yeshivas Ch’San Sofer, obtained $3,165,513 after trial.  Matter of Oakwood Beach Bluebelt (Yeshivas Ch’San Sofer), ___ AD3d ___ (Sept. 13, 2023). Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL), § 701, was amended to provide that when… read more

Posted in Attorneys' Fees, Condemnation, Just Compensation
Read more > 0

Lowballing African-American Farmers in a $5.6 Billion Project

A largely rural African-American farming region in western Tennessee is subject to condemnations for a series of road connections and widenings that will link a 4,100-acre Blue Oval Ford campus to a new Exit 39 off of I-40 to accommodate throngs of workers and truck traffic.  Ford Motor Company broke ground on its future $5.6 billion electric truck plant a year ago. The state is seeking 35 separate tracts of land by purchase or eminent domain.  Thus far the state has taken possession of 15 tracts.  The path of the… read more

Posted in Eminent Domain, Just Compensation, Lowball Offers
Read more > 0

South Grand View Development – A Regulatory Taking Case

Eric Bregman, Esq. (www.ericbregman.com), a prominent land use attorney in Long Island’s East End, sent me the decision handed down by the Eleventh Circuit on June 21, 2021, South Grand View Development Company, Inc. v City of Alabaster, Alabama 1F. 4th 1299. The facts are relatively simple.  The plaintiff purchased 547 acres of land in the City of Alabaster for $1.65 million.  The masterplan for development was submitted to and approved by the City.  Most of the development was completed by 2008 but the 142-acre portion of land at issue,… read more

Posted in Due Process, Just Compensation, Re-zonings
Read more > 0

No Soup for You – Colorado Supreme Court Refuses Compensation for Taking of Restrictive Covenant

The Town of Monument condemned a privately owned lot in a residential subdivision for the purpose of locating a water storage tank.  The lot was subject to a restrictive covenant requiring that it remain residential in use and that only a single-family home could be built on it.  Restrictive covenants are not unusual and are common in the development of planned unit communities.  Restrictive covenants have significant and substantial impact on the use and value of property. In response to the Town’s condemnation proceeding, dozens of property owners in the… read more

Posted in Compensation, Easements, Just Compensation, Restrictive Covenants
Read more > 0

THERE CAN BE NO LIMIT ON JUST COMPENSATION

          We recently took over some files that pertained to takings by the County of Suffolk.  The prior attorney inserted a dollar amount in the filed claim.  Later, upon the preparation of the pre-trial order, the condemnor’s counsel objected to the insertion of a higher amount which matched appraised damages.  Former counsel stated that he inserted an amount into the claim merely as a placeholder until an appraisal was completed.           Eminent Domain Procedure Law (“EDPL”) § 504 specifies the information that should be included in a claim.  It does… read more

Posted in Condemnation Claims, Just Compensation, There can be no limit to Just Compensation, Uncategorized
Read more > 0