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On April 11, 2014, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of Beroth Oil Company, et al. v. North Carolina Department of Transportation.  The Court granted discretionary review of the Court of Appeal‘s unanimous decision to deny class certification to the plaintiffs, who are landowners in the path of the Northern Beltway in Winston Salem.  In a 5 to 2 ruling, […]

Recently, a reporter with the Weekly Standard paid a visit to New London, Connecticut, site of perhaps the most well-known eminent domain controversy in the country.  As you will recall, New London hoped to jump-start economic development in the city and add much-needed jobs.  To realize this goal, in 1998 the city partnered with New London

On March 10, 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court released their decision in the case of Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust, et al. v. United States, holding that when a railroad abandons their right of way under an 1875 law, the property owner holding title to the land within the right of way acquires full rights to the land. For

In 2011 North Carolina lawmakers voted to stop the North Carolina Department of Transportation from studying the controversial so-called “Red Route”, which proposed routing part of I-540 through Garner.  That move caused the federal government to pull funding from the project because it meant that no alternatives for the route would be studied – a violation of federal law. In May of

A recent North Carolina Court of Appeals decision reinforces the importance of choosing an attorney familiar with proper procedure in eminent domain cases.  In City of Wilson v. the Batten Family, et al., a condemnation case out of Wilson County, Defendants moved for a 108 hearing in early 2010.  (A 108 hearing is held pursuant to NCGS

House Bill 272, which was referred to the Transportation Committee on April 18th, proposes to change the statute addressing the payment of costs by the Department of Transportation in a condemnation lawsuit.  The fourth version of the bill would amend NC General Statute Sec. 113-136 to require interest on the judgment awarded to the landower to be paid from the

In March, North Carolina legislators introduced a bill to remove restrictions placed on considering the so-called I-540 “Red Route” through Garner.  House Bill 10 was subsequently amended, and the third version (referred to the Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations of the House as of March 12, 2013) would also remove authorization for three major projects from the Turnpike Authority.  Those

On June 29, 2012 the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Department of Transportation’s petition to reconsider the court’s earlier ruling invalidating the DOT’s environmental study for the Monroe Bypass.  In the earlier opinion, decided May 3, 2012, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the DOT “failed to take the required ‘hard look’ at environmental consequences” of the

Federal Highway Administration Administrator Victor Mendez and North Carolina Secretary of Transportation Gene Conti were among the officials who toured the interchange expansion project in Statesville on October 10, 2012.  The project is scheduled to take nine years to complete in three phases.  Construction on the first phase is set to begin in the coming