THE EVANGELINE YODER LIVING TRUST
v.
CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS,
INITIAL OFFER: $0
JURY VERDICT: $217,000
In this inverse condemnation action Ms. Yoder sued the City of Newport News for creating a flooding condition on her property. In March of 2008 the Newport News Circuit Court ruled that Ms. Yoder’s property had been taken and damaged when the City of Newport News accepted into its storm water management system a drainage system that created a flooding condition on the Petitioner’s property.
In April of 2010 a three-day trial was held to determine the amount of just compensation to be paid for the taking and damaging of the Yoder’s property. The property owner put on evidence that the value of the property taken and damaged was $310,223.00. The City argued that the value was $37,000.00. After being instructed that the owner’s property had been taken and damaged the five-person just compensation jury awarded a total of $217,000 for the taking and damaging of the property.
Click here to read the feature in Virginia Lawyers Weekly regarding this case
ROANOKE REDEVELOPMENT
AND HOUSING AUTHORITY,
v.
B
&B HOLDINGS, LLC
ORIGINAL OFFER: $1,025,000
JURY VERDICT: $2,200,000
The Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) condemned the Burkholders’ property on June 29, 2007 – the last day possible before a new law would have prohibited the taking of their property. The RRHA wanted the Burkholders’ property to turn over to Carilion Health Systems for private development.
A two-year attempt to invalidate the taking of the property ended in the fall of 2009 when circuit court judge William D. Broadhurst ruled that RRHA had properly proceeded in declaring the South Jefferson Redevelopment Area to be blighted. The Burkholders’ case received national press coverage and helped remind citizens in the Commonwealth of Virginia of the necessity of a constitutional amendment to protect private property rights from being subrogated to private economic development interests.
During a three-day just compensation trial the landowner, B&B Holdings, presented evidence that the RRHA significantly had undervalued the owners’ property. The RRHA had not valued the interim use of the buildings on the property, but the landowner’s appraisers found that the buildings and structures on the ground had an interim value. The RRHA also valued the Burkholders’ property as two separate parcels, which would disqualify it from the high-density zoning it had been granted.
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
v.
LOGAN SINCLAIR LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
VDOT INITIAL OFFER: $2,620,076.00
JUST COMPENSATION
SETTLEMENT: $4,800,000.00
The Logan Sinclair Limited Partnership owned two adjoining parcels in the City of Manassas, which totaled just under 21 acres, offset from the intersection of Wellington Road and Route 28, one of the remaining undeveloped intersections in Manassas. The Logan Sinclair property was the largest privately held undeveloped property in Manassas.
VDOT condemned the property to build a bridge carrying Route 28 traffic over Wellington Road and to build a connector road between Route 28 and Wellington, which created a significant change in grade, loss of utility and access and the elimination of visibility. The condemnation also burdened the property with a number of utility, drainage and maintenance easements.
The experts engaged by the Logan Sinclair Partnership, which included two real estate appraisers, four engineers, a wetland delineator and a real estate consultant, determined that VDOT’s condemnation severely damaged the property and left it in a vastly inferior condition, which reduced the property’s value by reducing its highest and best use from high-end retail to industrial warehouse. VDOT’s appraisers had not considered the scope of damage the project created on the property.
With Waldo & Lyle’s assistance, the Logan Sinclair Limited Partnership reached a settlement $2.2 million above VDOT’s initial offer.
COMMONWEALTH TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER OF VIRGINIA
v.
TRUSTEES OF THE JACK SHRIER IRREVOCABLE TRUST
Fairfax County Circuit Court
INITIAL OFFER: $2,563,900
JURY AWARD FOR
PROPERTY TAKEN: $3,409,890
JURY AWARD FOR
DAMAGE TO PROPERTY : $895,600
A five-member Fairfax County condemnation jury unanimously awarded the owner of the former Merrifield Sunoco site, the Trustees of the Jack Schrier Irrevocable Trust, and the long-term tenant, Sunoco, Inc. (R&M), a total of $4,305,490.00 for the taking of a portion of the property and the damage to the residue by the Virginia Department of Transportation as part of its project to widen Lee Highway and Gallows Road in the Merrifield area of Fairfax County. The property owner presented expert testimony from an appraiser and a real estate broker that the highest and best use of the site was continued use as a gasoline/service station and convenience store.
The property owner’s expert witnesses testified that comparable properties sold in 2006 for between $4.4 million and $6 million. VDOT presented expert testimony from an appraiser that the highest and best use of the site was for assemblage with adjoining parcels for redevelopment as a bank site. VDOT’s expert witness testified that the service station building had no contributing value to the property, although the parties agreed that the gasoline storage tanks and fuel pumps did have a value.
As required by statute for eminent domain just compensation trials, the jury viewed the property. After deliberating five hours, the jury awarded the property owner and the long-term tenant more than $1,850,000 above VDOT's initial deposit and just compensation appraisal. The jury award included $3,409,890 for the value of the property rights taken and $895,600 in damages to the remaining property as a result of the taking.
WALDO AND LYLE WINS SIGNIFICANT VICTORY FOR PROPERTY OWNER NEAR DULLES AIRPORT
INITIAL OFFER: $289,925.00
JURY VERDICT FOR
PROPERTY TAKEN: $368,718
JURY VERDICT FOR
DAMAGE TO PROPERTY: $668,832
TOTAL JURY VERDICT: $1,034,550 (plus interest)
Khalid B. Mohamed, a Northern Virginia contractor and real estate investor, owned a 1.75-acre tract of land at the corner of Centreville Road and West Ox Road in Western Fairfax County, Virginia, not far from Dulles Airport. Mr. Mohamed’s property, on a wooded corner of one of the last undeveloped intersections along a busy stretch of Centreville Road, was unusual in that it was split-zoned, approximately half residential and half commercial. The commercially-zoned half of the Mohamed property fronted on Centreville Road. As part of a project to widen Centreville Road from two lanes to six, the Virginia Department of Transportation condemned a portion of Mr. Mohamed’s property, and the land taken was entirely from the commercially-zoned half of the property.
After Mr. Mohamed rejected VDOT’s initial offer to purchase the property for $289,925.00, he retained the services of Waldo & Lyle, P.C. At trial, VDOT’s expert appraiser testified that just compensation was $450,900.00, and that the remainder of the lot could be rezoned and subdivided into two residential building lots. Mr. Mohamed had retained the services of an expert engineer, who testified at trial that rezoning was prohibited by the Fairfax County Comprehensive plan, and therefore that Mr. Mohamed would only have one buildable residential lot. Mr. Mohamed’s appraisers testified that they believed just compensation exceeded $1,100,000.00.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict of $1,034,550.00, including $368,718 in compensation for the property rights taken and $668,832 for damages to the remaining property as a result of the taking. VDOT appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court, which denied the Petition for Appeal. The total judgment, including interest, exceeds $1,100,000.00. Mr. Mohamed is also entitled to reimbursement of his expert witness fees in excess of $45,000.00.
Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner of Virginia
v.
Theodore Frank Bodnar, Jr.
INITIAL OFFER: $311,350.00
JURY AWARD: $1,274,866.40 (plus interest)
Following a three-day jury trial, during which the condemnation jurors took a view of the property being taken, on October 21, 2009, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of $1,274,866.40 as just compensation for the taking of property and damage to the residue of property owned by Theodore Bodnar, Jr., located in the Merrifield area of Fairfax County. VDOT initially offered $311,350.00 to Mr. Bodnar to purchase his property rights prior to filing the condemnation action. At trial, VDOT presented expert testimony from an appraiser, who testified that her opinion of just compensation was $344,600, including $343,600 for the property rights taken, $1,000 for adjustment costs, and $0 for damages to the residual property. VDOT’s appraiser opined that the property should be combined with neighboring parcels and redeveloped as a bank site. The property owner presented expert testimony from an engineer and development consultant, that the taking restricted the utility of the property by making the lot non-conforming under the Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance and making access to the residue unreasonable. The property owner also presented expert testimony from an appraiser, who testified that his opinion of just compensation was $1,467,338.06, including $460,172.53 for the property rights taken and $1,007,165.53 for damages to the residual property. The property owner’s appraiser testified that the property would have been developed on its own as a bank site prior to the taking, but that the taking required Mr. Bodnar to negotiate with neighboring property owners, both of whom have long-term leases on their properties, to assemble their properties together in order to develop them. The unanimous jury verdict included $362,385.25 for the value of the property rights taken and $912,501.15 for the damages to the remaining property as a result of the taking.
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
v.
JOHN G. MARTIN CO., LLC
VDOT INITIAL OFFER: $18,903
JURY AWARD FOR
PROPERTY TAKEN: $48,360
JURY AWARD FOR
DAMAGE TO RESIDUE: $103,188
TOTAL JURY AWARD
FOR CLIENT: $151,548
The Martin family owned an unimproved 2 acre parcel fronting on George Washington Memorial Highway in Grafton (York County), Virginia. Most of the property was part of a farm that had been in the family for over 150 years, and was being held to develop as a prime commercial corner retail site. VDOT decided to expand the road and relocate the utilities in the existing right of way. An electrical switchbox was to be installed on one end of the road frontage, but VDOT stated it intended to install the remaining utilities underground. The property taken included permanent utility easements and a temporary construction easement, but no land acquisition. The project and easements caused a loss of control of the frontage and loss of visibility from one end. At trial, VDOT's appraiser valued the easements at $18,903, and testified that in his opinion there was no damage to the remaining property. The opinion of the landowner's appraiser was that the easements taken had a value of $48,360, and the remaining property had been damaged in the amount of $103,188. On September 4, 2008, seeing the impact of the easements on the remaining property, the jury awarded the landowner just compensation of $151,548, the full amount sought in the case.
COMMONWEALTH TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER OF VIRGINIA
v.
CLAUDINE S. CAMPER FAMILY TRUST
VDOT INITIAL OFFER: $2,058,395
SETTLED DURING TRIAL: $3,800,000
The Trust owned a small shopping center on a busy corner in Virginia Beach, Virginia. VDOT decided to expand the road and take a large portion of the shopping center’s parking and change and restrict ingress and egress to the shopping center. The loss of parking and access to the center was a major detriment and resulted in significant diminution in the value to the remainder. VDOT’s take eliminated the majority of the parking spaces, ingress and egress points and destroyed onsite circuitry. Seeing the full impact of the take VDOT offered to settle the case with the jury in the courtroom.
COMMONWEALTH TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER OF VIRGINIA
v.
TARGET CORPORATION A/K/A TARGET STORES, INC..
Commonwealth Transp. Com'r v. Target Corp.,
650 S.E.2d 92 (Va. 2007).
VDOT INITIAL OFFER: $115,000
JURY AWARD FOR
PROPERTY TAKEN: $175,100
JURY AWARD FOR
DAMAGE TO RESIDUE: $3,324,900
TOTAL JUST COMPENSATION
FOR CLIENT: $5,635,343
On September 14, 2007, the Supreme Court of Virginia upheld the jury’s award of $3,500,000, plus interest, where VDOT constructed an elevated road and bridge that changed the highest and best use of a Target retail store in Fairfax. When the case reached the Virginia Supreme Court on appeal by VDOT the court affirmed the jury’s verdict and the trial judge’s ruling including the significance of the scope of the project rule and held that the amount of the jury verdict was not unreasonable, nor excessive.
VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY
v.
ROCK MINISTRIES, INC.
VEPCO INITIAL OFFER: $186,584
SETTLEMENT AMOUNT: $2,500,000
VEPCO condemned 25 acres for a transmission line easement to build a 235KV-power line and condemned 279 acres for a conservation easement to mitigate wetland damages that the construction of the power line caused in Southeast Virginia. Rock Ministries’ property was located on the North Landing River, part of the Intracoastal Waterway, where the property was best suited for development with high-end estate homes with recreational facilities maximizing the one and a half miles of deep water access. The 279-acre conservation easement took away the ability to develop the property’s major attribute—its extensive frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway.
NORFOLK REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY
v.
C AND C REAL ESTATE, INC.
Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority v. C and C Real Estate, Inc.,
272 Va. 2 (2006).
RESULT AT TRIAL: Condemnation Defeated, Property Owner Maintained Possession of the Property
FEES, COSTS & EXPENSES
RECOVERED FOR CLIENT: $346,221
In a case that went before the Virginia Supreme Court twice, the landowner defeated the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s (NRHA) attempt to condemn the property and the Virginia Supreme Court ruled the condemnation illegal. In Virginia, if a landowner defeats a condemnor’s effort to take their property the law provides that the landowner is to be fully reimbursed for its “reasonable costs, disbursements, and expenses, including reasonable attorney, appraisal and engineering fees, actually incurred because of the condemnation proceedings.” Because Waldo & Lyle was able to defeat NRHA’s condemnation, C and C was entitled to recover its costs, expenses and fees incurred during the litigation of the case, including NRHA’s unsuccessful attempt to appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court and deny the property owner its costs and attorney fees.
