EMINENT DOMAIN

Representative Cases

• Eminent domain case involving an acquisition of an 8,000 square foot strip of frontage from a 160,000 square foot larger parcel. Plaintiff was a public agency taking land for extension of a light rail system. Six months before plaintiff filed its condemnation complaint, property owner defendants started construction on an office complex on the property. When plaintiff filed its eminent domain action, the building structure was approximately 90 percent complete. Defendant property owners claimed compensation for the value of the taking, temporary delay damages which resulted in a claimed temporary loss of 19 months of rent and severance damages to remaining property. Plaintiff contended that it had offered fair market value for the property and that there were no severance damages to the remainder.