On-Demand Webinar | Eminent Domain in 2020: A Year in Review
We are closely tracking the newly released Senate Bill 254 (Becker, 2025) Study Report, prepared by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) as Administrator of the Wildfire Fund. While the report outlines several pathways...more
Public utilities rely on access to private and public land to build and maintain essential infrastructure. When voluntary acquisition efforts fall short, litigation becomes a necessary tool to secure those rights....more
Several changes to Virginia eminent domain law are now in effect following the General Assembly’s 2025 reform package. Most provisions took effect July 1, 2025, while certain requirements – such as the updated title...more
Courts have historically denied inverse condemnation claims by property owners against water suppliers where the quality of water or chemicals used allegedly caused corrosion or damage to water pipes. However, under a recent...more
When the government approves a private development that diminishes neighboring property values, can a property owner maintain a takings claim? According to a recent California court decision, the answer is no – governmental...more
The California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) recently issued its Senate Bill 254 Information and Recommendations (Report) in response to Executive Order N-34-25 and the recent Senate Bill 254 (Becker, 2025) (SB...more
The recent Morgan v. City of Norfolk decision provides a detailed look at how Virginia courts approach inverse condemnation claims tied to multi-phase construction projects. The Court’s analysis offers practical lessons on...more
When a lawsuit involves both inverse condemnation claims and other tort claims, trial courts often bifurcate the proceedings. A recent unpublished opinion from the Third District Court of Appeal, Rainey v. Nevada Irrigation...more
As the 2026 General Assembly session progresses, it is important to understand how changes made in 2025 to Virginia’s eminent domain laws are impacting current condemnation proceedings. While characterized as procedural...more
This seems like common sense, but a public agency cannot pursue an inverse condemnation cause of action for damages suffered from its own public improvements. Yet that is exactly what the County of Santa Cruz recently...more
On the first day of Christmas my client came to me and asked: “who holds title to the partridge in a pear tree that is within our new proposed right-of-way?” I replied that a partridge is a wild animal and not typically...more
We recently detailed Senate Bill 254, which overhauls California’s approach to wildfires. In addition to promoting new transmission facilities, replenishing the wildfire fund, streamlining the siting process and exempting...more
The Court of Appeals of Washington (“Court of Appeals”) addressed in an October 14th Opinion an inverse condemnation issue. See Mark D. Stephens & Lynn Stephens, Appellants, v. Town of Steilacoom, a municipal corporation,...more
The contours of inverse condemnation liability are often tested by creative California plaintiff’s lawyers. In an opinion earlier this year, one Northern California Federal Court dealt with a novel lawsuit in which the Vichy...more
Planning and constructing public infrastructure projects takes significant time – sometimes many years. Property owners and businesses who may be impacted are left in a state of limbo, not knowing for sure whether the project...more
Lake Meredith is a reservoir located about 30 miles northeast of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. It was formed when the State of Texas built the Sanford Dam on the Canadian River in 1965. When the dam was completed the...more
State of Texas. V. Reimer et al. studied lawyer-nerdy questions of standing to bring a lawsuit and statutes of limitations as applied to inverse condemnation suits. Spoiler alert: To the chagrin of the landowners, waiting...more
It is one of the most common assumptions made by clients in litigation: “If I win, the other side will have to pay my attorney’s fees, right?” Unfortunately, that assumption is often wrong—especially in North Carolina. The...more
Can a public entity be held liable for inverse condemnation when it fails to prevent another party from causing damage to private property? This one is pretty simple: the answer is no....more
Inverse condemnation is a legal theory that is not common in the subrogation industry. However, when dealing with a loss where property damage is the result of action by a public entity, it is a claim that may be available....more
When water agencies provide water to customers, and that water causes damage to customer property, can water agencies face inverse condemnation liability? For quite some time, inverse condemnation liability appeared to be...more
Investors and developers scour the Southern California real estate market searching for opportunities to buy dated houses that they can demolish and replace with large, modern homes to sell for much more. A few individuals...more
In litigation underlying Satcher v. Columbia County, 2024 WL 3802370 (Ga. Aug. 13, 2024), property owners sued the County related to damage caused by their privately-owned 48-inch pipe that had been used as part of the...more
Benton Housing Associates Limited Partnership (“Benton Housing”) filed on August 9th in the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas (Central Division) a Complaint against the following defendants: City...more
When a property owner brings a regulatory taking / inverse condemnation claim based on a city or county’s zoning decisions, the owner often provides context and history, including public statements made by staff, board...more