Navigation

Archive | Eminent Domain Abuse

May 13, 2015

The Second Higher Appraisal: Stop the Games and Produce it

A recent, unanimous decision of the Virginia Supreme Court held that a prior appraisal used for the payment of an advance payment should have been admitted in evidence as an admission. Ramsey v Commissioner of Highways, __ Va. ___ (Record number 140929). The  full decision of the Court can be read here. The facts were fairly simple. The Ramseys owned a parcel of land in the City of Virginia Beach. The Highway Department took a portion of the land for Route 264. Prior to the taking, the Condemnor valued the… read more

By
Posted in Advance Payments, Eminent Domain, Eminent Domain Abuse, Offer & Compensation, Recent cases, Sandbagging
Read more > 0

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

By
Posted in Advance Payments, Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain Abuse, New York, Offer & Compensation, Valuation
Read more > 0

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

By
Posted in Challenging condemnation, Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain Abuse, Mortgage seizures
Read more > 0

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

By
Posted in Condemnation Procedures, Eminent Domain, Eminent Domain Abuse, Future of the law, New York, Offer & Compensation, Recent cases, Valuation
Read more > 0

September 10, 2014

Atlantic City’s Eminent Domain Mania

The 2 billion dollar casino hotel Revel closed its doors, unable to find a buyer in Bankruptcy Court. The showboat casino closed. The Wall Street Journal reported on September 9, 2014 that Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; this includes Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza casinos. Charles V. Bagli, writing in the New York Times on September 8, 2014, reported that the highest-grossing casino in America is not in Nevada or in Atlantic City, but in a hardscrabble neighborhood near Kennedy Airport where a Malaysian Conglomerate, the… read more

By
Posted in Eminent Domain Abuse, New York
Read more > 0