Today we have a guest post by New York colleague Jennifer Polovetsky, who writes about an age-old question: what are “special benefits” that accrue to the remainder in a partial taking, and can these benefits be offset against just compensation or severance damages?
Thanks to Jennifer (and to the New York Law Journal) for
810 years ago today* on a grassy plain down by the river, the barons convinced bad King John to affix his seal to Magna Carta. Or the Magna Carta. Or Magna Charta. However you want to grammarize it. (And no, he didn’t “sign” it, they didn’t do things like that back then.)
And
Mark your calendars — or better yet, register now — for the 8th Annual Texas Eminent Domain Conference (Houston), August 14-15, 2025.
We’ve attended in the past, and can report from first-hand experience that it is a great conference, chock-full of the information you need for eminent domain practice in the Lone Star State.
Be sure to check this out. The Practical Real Estate Lawyer has published an article by colleague Matthew Ackerman (who has since become a Michigan Court of Appeals judge).
In “The Pitfalls of Objectively Measured Just Compensation: When Market Value Isn’t Enough” (pdf here), he writes about the ways that
Want to learn of some of the options available to property owners whose land is taken by eminent domain (or, even more sadly, destroyed by a disaster)?
Then you should sign up for next week’s ALI-CLE webinar, “1033 Exchanges: Advanced Strategies for Optimal Tax Deferral.”
Here’s a description of the program:
When property
Partial taking for highway project. You know what that means: severance damages. And you also know that often means a “general or special” benefits fight over how the remainder parcel may have been improved by the project, and whether these benefits can reduce the severance owed.
Before-the-project condition: undeveloped land on a frontage road with
There’s a lot of detailed legal analysis in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (Eastern District)’s opinion in Pignetti v. Pennsylvania, No. J-11A-2024 (Apr. 25, 2025). But in the end it boiled down to a simple concept.
The case was about what property constituted the larger parcel. As the court put it, where “the condemnation of
A short one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The caption of WBI Energy Transmission, Inc. v. 189.9 rods, No. 24-1693 (Mar. 24, 2025), should tell you that this is a private-delegation federal taking, and indeed it is. Another Natural Gas Act taking by a private pipeline company.
After WBI
Virginians: now is a good time to register for the Virginia Eminent Domain Conference, May 8-9, 2025, at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg.
We have spoken and attended the Conference in past editions, and can report that it is excellent. We’re looking forward to joining friends and colleagues again in The Burg in the
