Professor Gideon Kanner, in his own unmistakable style, writes about the (un)fairness of just compensation in eminent domain in “Kleptocracy!“
Beginning in the 1960s, studies made of condemnation compensationpractices have concluded that the condemnee-owners were actuallyundercompensated (”undercompensated” is a two-bit word for “cheated”).In a great many cases the government offers that are made arelowballs, often below the government’s own appraisal figures. How do weknow it’s so? Because condemnation lawyers by and large charge theirclients contingent fees with the contingency calculated only on theoverage, not on the entire recovery like tort lawyers do.
The entire post is worth reading.