The Pribeagus asserted the County’s failure to maintain a road caused their home to be flooded repeated. They sued in inverse condemnation, including in their suit a claim for damages both to their real property and their personal property.
The trial court kept the Pribeagus from introducing evidence of the value of the personal property, believing that such damages are not recoverable in inverse condemnation, and the only thing an owner can recover is damage to real property.
In Pribegeau v. Gwinnett County, No.A15A2026 (Apr. 13, 2016), the Georgia Court of Appeals disagreed, concluding that the term “property” is the Georgia Constitution “is a very comprehensive one, and is used not only to signify things real and personal owned, but to designate the right of ownership and that which is subject to be owned and enjoyed.” Slip op. at 7 (citation omitted). So yes, personal property is “property” and is subject to being taken, if the Pribegeaus prove their case.
The court also held that evidence of the cost to cure (repair costs) should have been admitted where it is used to support a claim for damages to the property, and held that they were not precluded from seeing attorneys fees because they didn’t assert a right to such fees as part of just compensation, but because the County (allegedly) acted in bad faith. In those cases, attorneys fees may be recoverable, even if under Georgia law, fees generally are not part of just compensation.
Pribeagu v. Gwinnett County, No. A15A2026 (Ga. App. Apr. 13, 2016)