Eminent Domain Report

On the first day of Christmas my client came to me and asked: “who holds title to the partridge in a pear tree that is within our new proposed right-of-way?” I replied that a partridge is a wild animal and not typically subject to private ownership, however if the landowner claims it is a “pet”, it would be considered personal property.

On the second day of Christmas, my client asked me “what do we do if we find two turtle doves on the property that we need to condemn for a new highway?” I said let’s get a right-of-entry from the landowner to do a survey and environmental testing and ...

A quick overview of Eminent Domain and its use in Texas

The power of eminent domain originates in the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution (Takings Clause). A State’s eminent domain authority is delegated by specific legislatively enacted statutes to state agencies, political subdivisions (i.e. cities, counties and special districts) and even some private entities, which are bound by relevant constitutional restrictions when exercising the power of eminent domain to condemn private property. Condemnation is the legal process that governmental entities and ...