A recent opinion from the Eastern District of Virginia, UNITED STATES v. 0.1785 acres of land, involves an attempt by landowners' counsel to get the condemning authority's rebuttal witnesses excluded. The landowners argued that the opinions of the United States’ engineer and appraiser rebuttal experts were inadmissible because they addressed only "general benefits" rather than [...]
In eminent domain proceedings in federal court, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 71.1(h) provides that "the court tries all issues" except for the amount of just compensation, which generally must be decided by a jury if "a party demands one." Appellate courts have not provided much guidance on the procedural aspects of Rule 71.1(h), until [...]
Expert witness testimony is a cornerstone of eminent domain litigation, and the key aspect to eminent domain trial work is expert witness preparation. Even the best of experts will not fare well at trial if not sufficiently prepared. And as we all know, being familiar with an appraisal assignment—including methodology and conclusions of value—will not [...]
Anyone who testifies regularly as an expert witness, will be expected to, or is responsible for obtaining expert reports that may be used in litigation, should know what is expected as far as the quality of expert reports in the jurisdiction in which they are working in order to avoid having reports excluded. In the [...]
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 previously posted Part I of this rather deep dive [...]
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 [...]