Overview
The Property Tax and Valuation team maintains an active docket of eminent domain litigation in addition to its robust assessment appeals practice. Our Eminent Domain practice is well recognized and is represented in the Owners’ Counsel of America (OCA), the preeminent, invitation-only, organization of eminent domain attorneys in the nation with one member per state.
Our primary client base consists of property owners who find themselves impacted by a public works project that calls for the taking, either in whole or in part, of its real estate. Practice members also occasionally counsel municipalities in eminent domain matters.
Our attorneys assist owners in obtaining just compensation from the taking authority for the property taken. Among the types of properties we have litigated are an oil terminal, outdoor advertising signage, industrial properties, a gravel bank, and retail assets including shopping centers.
While takings of an entire property often can present valuation challenges, partial takings usually are more complicated, as determining the value of the condemned property, in addition to any damages to the remainder not taken, are required. Our practitioners have ample experience with both total and partial takings.
We also have experience with regulatory takings that do not involve the physical acquisition of real estate but which are impacted by off-site developments and inverse takings that fall under the same conceptual category.
Services that we provide in the area of Eminent Domain include:
- Takings/ Condemnations: Advise property owners and tenants facing complete or partial takings by government in order to minimize the impact of a taking when possible and/or maximize the just compensation to be received by the condemnee.
- Court Appeals: Represent condemnees in court proceedings in order to obtain just compensation for the property taken.
- Inverse Condemnation: Where appropriate, develop and pursue inverse condemnation claims.
Our attorneys lecture and publish on eminent domain topics and regularly post to the practice’s blog, For What It May Be Worth. In addition, our attorneys have authored the Connecticut chapters of the American Bar Association’s Fifty-State Survey: The Law of Eminent Domain as well as the Property Tax Deskbook.
