In preparing to speak at the recent VDOT consultant's conference, my law partner Dave Arnold and I put together an outline of some tips and techniques for succeeding as an expert witness, based on our years of experience handling experts in right-of-way matters. We thought this one might also be of interest to [...]
This has been a relatively sparse year for reported appellate eminent domain cases in Virginia. However, this last week I had the honor of presenting the eminent domain section of the Federal and State Caselaw Update at the Virginia Local Government Attorney's Association Fall Conference. The following are excerpts of some of the [...]
The Virginia General Assembly passed two major eminent domain bills in its most recent term, the ominous Senate Bill 666, and the less ominously numbered but significantly more extensive Senate Bill 694. Condemning authorities, consultants, and their counsel need to be aware of these changes and to update their best practices, procedures, forms, and checklists [...]
The 15th Anniversary (if you only count in person events apparently) Virginia Eminent Domain CLE makes its return this year instead of at its usual venue, the Tides Inn in Irvington, at the significantly more shall we say accessible, Delta Bayfront Suites in Virginia Beach, April 28-29, 2022. My law partner Dave Arnold and I [...]
Eminent domain is an unusual area of the law, so unusual that in Virginia it is one of the very few areas that has its own specific form scheduling order promulgated by the the Supreme Court of Virginia in the appendices to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Supreme Court of Virginia [...]
When we launched a brand-new podcast in August of last year designed for people with an interest in the right-of-way industry, who would of thought it would have come this far this fast? The Pendulum Land Podcast is now in its second season and in the Top 100 on iTunes! We at RightofWay.law are particularly [...]
Ever think about who owns the bottom of a river? At least in Virginia’s tidal saltwater rivers, the answer is often that the state owns it and that people can rent state-owned river bottom in order to plant oysters for $1.50 per acre per year. So what does one get for a rent of [...]
Who had on their 2020 apocalypse bingo card that a company wants to proceed with mining the largest uranium deposit in the United States? Thankfully, there is currently a moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia, and even more thankfully, a Virginia trial court has rejected a constitutional challenge to Virginia’s uranium mining moratorium brought by [...]
It's official. In Virginia you cannot sue the displacing agency directly under the Virginia Relocation Assistance Act - the state counterpart to the federal Uniform Relocation Act. The Virginia Supreme Court issued its ruling today in Michael Fernandez, D.D.S., Ltd., a Division of Atlantic Dental Care, PLC v. Commissioner of Highways. The case [...]
Landowners’ counsel in Virginia often use a tactic called the “unity of lands doctrine” to try to inflate damage claims, but a recent decision from the Virginia Beach Circuit Court shows a way to defeat this common tactic. In City of Va. Beach v. Sweigart, Case No. 18005649-00, the project called for a utility easement [...]