Eminent Domain Law Legal Research

Eminent domain is a specialized area of law concerning the power of local, state, and federal governments to take private property for public use. The “Takings Clause” of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution places constraints on governments’ power to condemn property by requiring that the property be taken for “public use,” such as building roads, public buildings, or power lines, and requiring that “just compensation” be paid to the property owner in exchange for his or her property. Beyond the requirements of the United States Constitution, all of the states have constitutional provisions or statutes addressing and often restricting the power of eminent domain.

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The National Legal Research Group can help attorney-clients representing both government and quasi-government condemnors as well as property owners in eminent domain actions by performing legal research, analyzing statutes, and drafting court documents. 

The following are some of the condemnation issues we have researched for our clients:

• The constitutionality of a particular eminent domain statute
• Valuation for just compensation 
  
  • Determining if the valuation method used was proper
  • Determining what factors should be considered in the valuation
  • Determining if a valuation amounts to “just compensation”
• Evaluating whether the statutory procedure for condemnation was followed and determining the implications if it was not
• Researching how condemnation proceedings are affected if the owner of the property is leasing it to another and what effects this has on the leaseholder
• Investigating the intersection between the eminent domain statutes and the Rule Against Perpetuities
• Researching whether, under a particular statutory scheme, a municipality has the power to condemn land outside of their municipality, which is known as extraterritorial condemnation
• Evaluating whether, if the project for which the land was condemned is cancelled, the landowner has a right to buy back the property and for what price

The National Legal Research Group can also assist with cases of inverse condemnation, which occurs when a governmental entities regulation of property so greatly damages the property’s value that it is the equivalent to a taking and the property owner must sue to obtain the required just compensation. 

Testimonials

MEET OUR Eminent Domain law LEGAL RESEARCH ATTORNEYs

Senior Research Attorney John Stone

B.A., University of Virginia, 1974.  J.D., Marshall Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary, 1978. Member, Virginia Bar. For many years, John has authored articles for NLRG’s client newsletter, Report from Counsel. He has been with NLRG since 1978 and specializes in Administrative Law, Civil Rights, Eminent Domain, and Local & State Government.  Areas of expertise include police misconduct, constitutional law, including due process, equal protection, and First Amendment cases, inverse condemnation, local and state government cases in the area of tort immunity, school cases involving disciplinary actions against both students and teachers, and many issues involving zoning and land-use permits.  Read Full Bio

Senior Research Attorney Dora Vivaz

B.S., University of South Carolina, 1966. M.A., Syracuse University, 1969. J.D., Vermont Law School, Magna Cum Laude, 1989, where Dora was published in the Law Review in both her second and third years.  Dora concentrates in the areas of public law, including Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Employment Discrimination, and Local and State Government, including eminent domain and zoning, Property, and Administrative Law, including environmental law and public employment.

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Senior Research Attorney Suzanne Bailey

 B.A., University of Virginia, 1980.  J.D., University of Detroit School of Law, 1983.  Member, Michigan, New York, and Virginia Bars.  Prior to joining our firm, Suzanne served as a Law Clerk to The Honorable Stewart A. Newblatt, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, from 1983 to 1985.  She left Michigan for New York, and from 1985 to 1990 she was an Assistant Corporation Counsel, promoted to a Deputy Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel, with the New York City Law Department, General Litigation Division, litigating in the state and federal trial courts of New York City, primarily in the areas of civil rights and employment discrimination. Her areas of expertise include Administrative Law, Evidence, Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Criminal Law, Elections, Insurance, Labor & Employment, Medicare/Medicaid, Schools, Social Security, State & Local Government, and Workers' Compensation. Read Full Bio