Just Compensation

Government authorities and utility companies care much more about their development projects than about providing you with just compensation when condemning your property. That’s why you need an assertive attorney on your side who will seek to obtain the compensation you deserve based on your property’s market value. We have a proven success rate in helping our clients get just compensation and are passionate about representing property owners in cases of property condemnation.

Inverse Condemnation

In a case of inverse, or de facto, condemnation, an authority has seized control over your property without following proper eminent domain/condemnation procedures. You may still own the property and pay taxes on it, but the authority is using it for their own purposes. Inverse condemnation can be a result of several factors, but in any case, the property owner needs an experienced attorney on their side who can help them gain just compensation for the partial or total take of their property. Our attorneys have the experience to ensure you obtain the maximum compensation you deserve.

Total Take/Partial Take

Sometimes, a government authority will only condemn a partial portion of your property, so that they won’t have to provide you with as much compensation. However, taking away a portion of your property can be detrimental to you as a business owner. If the partial portion condemned contributes substantially to your property’s value, it needs to be treated as a total take, and you need to receive a higher amount of compensation. Our attorneys can help in cases of both total and partial take and will fight for you to determine you are getting the compensation you deserve for your property.

Pennsylvania Eminent Domain: Public Condemnation of Private Property

Generally, eminent domain allows the government the authority to seize land for use in a development project for public purposes, as long as just compensation is provided to the original landowner. In Pennsylvania, the law states that a property is condemned when a legal authority “takes, injures or destroys” the property “by authority of law for a public purpose.”

Pennsylvania law sometimes allows condemnation in cases outside of public purposes projects. Private enterprise may lead to condemnation in the following cases:

• The property owner doesn’t object to their land being condemned
• The property owner’s preliminary objection isn’t successful
• The property is abandoned, blighted, uninhabitable, dangerous, or a nuisance
• The private enterprise is within a public purposes project
• The property is going to be used for urban development or low- or mixed-income housing