Clifford A. Rieders
Partner, since 1975
Areas: Litigation; Medical Malpractice; Personal Injury; Products Liability; Professional Liability; Torts; Aviation & Aerospace; Civil Practice; Federal Practice and Appeals; Constitutional and Civil Rights; Class Actions; Dram Shop Liability; Railroad Law
Thomas Waffenschmidt
Areas: Medical Malpractice; Personal Injury; Wrongful Death; Motor Vehicle Accidents; Civil Litigation; Products Liability; Trial Practice.
Ronald C. Travis
Areas: Criminal Law; Drugs and Narcotics; Litigation; Personal Injury; State and Federal Criminal cases.
Condemnation/eminent domain is a process by which the government and sometimes even private entities can obtain land against the will of the owner. Under such circumstances, the condemning authority or private party who benefits from the condemnation must pay damages. Those damages can include not only the value of the land or right-of-way, but also business interruption and sometimes other damages as well. The laws involving eminent domain and condemnation are so important that even the constitution speaks to the rights of landowners. In recent years there has been much distress over court decisions that seem to say that purely private land may be condemned even for private purpose. This has given rise to a raft of new laws and lawsuits. We think it is very important that landowners who are faced with intrusions upon their land have legal recourse. Sometimes the doctrine of de facto condemnation comes into play. In these circumstances, there is not a literal condemnation which is filed, but the actions of the government or private party may be the equivalent of condemnation. In such cases there may be damages to the landowner as well. Condemnation can be for surface or for subsurface rights. Condemnation can involve not only the taking of land, but also the interruption of the use thereof. These are very important rights that should not be neglected by any landowner.
