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Archive | Condemnation Procedures

January 9, 2015

Court of Claims Issues Two Decisions on Distribution Proceedings

The Court of Claims decided two decisions last week that will, hopefully, obviate the need for Claimant’s condemnation counsel to bring distribution proceedings on behalf of their clients in New York. For those unfamiliar with the term, a distribution proceeding is brought as an action seeking the disbursement of funds that have been deposited into the State comptroller’s account. Specific to eminent domain cases, and at issue in these two decisions, was the State’s deposit of the advance payment amounts into the State comptroller’s account pursuant to Eminent Domain Procedure… read more

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Posted in Advance Payments, Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain Abuse, New York, Offer & Compensation, Valuation
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October 8, 2014

Eminent Domain to Lower Mortgages: A Silly Idea That Won’t Go Away

Last year we read about the plan of the City of Richmond California to condemn underwater mortgages to squeeze them from financial institutions and refinance them for the homeowner. Financial institutions sued and the plan was aborted. But now we read that the City of San Francisco has an idea to partner with nearby Richmond on the same program. Supervisor John Alvos was quoted in the San Francisco Examiner as saying, “The issue of distressed mortgages is real in San Francisco, data showed that there are hundreds of homes at… read more

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Posted in Challenging condemnation, Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain Abuse, Mortgage seizures
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September 24, 2014

Time to Curb Developers from Controlling Condemnation Litigation

If you are reading an appellate court decision deciding a condemnor’s appeal from an award your client recovered and the Court quotes Judge Cardozo in New York, O. & W.R. Co. v. Livingston, 238 NY 300 (1924), it’s not good. This is the case where Judge Cardozo wrote that “it is the duty of the state ,in the conduct of the inquest by which the compensation is ascertained, to see that it is just, not merely to the individual whose property is taken, but to the public which is to… read more

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Posted in Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain, Eminent Domain Abuse, Future of the law, New York, Offer & Compensation, Recent cases, Valuation
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August 7, 2014

Second Department Precludes Interior Appraisal Inspection

Recently, we blogged about a California case, Property Reserve, Inc. v. Superior Court, 224 Cal. App. 4th Dept 828 (2014), wherein the California Third District of Appeal ruled that entry statues which allowed discovery , testing, and inspection of property which was being considered in a condemnation proceeding were unconstitutional. The case was also the subject of a recent New York Law Journal article published on June 24, 2014. New York has very similar pre-condemnation entry authorizations in its Eminent Domain Procedure Law. The column noted that Property Reserve did not… read more

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Posted in Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain Abuse, Entry Statutes, New York, Recent cases
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April 23, 2014

Michael Rikon Authors NYLJ Article: “More on Discovery of Prior Appraisals”

Michael Rikon recently authored an article in the New York Law Journal discussing the use of prior appraisals in eminent domain litigation proceedings. In the article, Mr. Rikon explains under Eminent Domain Procedure Law section 303, the condemning authority must authorize an advance payment based on its highest approved appraisal. However, often times at trial, the condemnor will introduce a subsequent appraisal at a lower amount, exposing the claimants  to a potential judgment if the trial court accepts the state’s appraisal as the fair market value on title vesting date…. read more

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Posted in Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain, New York, Offer & Compensation, Published Articles
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