Has new construction by a government agency damaged your property? Has your property been flooded or undercut?  Has the value of your property been decreased by government construction in the area due to noise, lost view, or other reasons?  If it has, you don’t need to simply accept the loss or damage to your property.  Instead, you can begin what is known as an inverse condemnation lawsuit.  With this lawsuit, you can hold the government responsible for the damage to your property.

Why Inverse Condemnation?

In a normal condemnation proceeding, also known as an eminent domain lawsuit, a government agency, either federal, state, or local, seeks to get ownership of your property for use in some public works project, such as a road, school, or airport.  In an inverse condemnation, the government acts first.  It constructs a public works project either without using eminent domain, with inadequate eminent domain, or without recognizing the full scope of the project’s impact.

If a project alters drainage in an area, it can cause flooding to one or more private homes.  If a project digs, it can take away support from under fences, outbuildings, or even homes.  A project can also sometimes dramatically decrease property values if it add significant noise or traffic to an area without adding services of local value. A government might build in a way that interferes with a traditional easement you utilized in an adjacent lot.

In all these cases, the government has essentially taken something away from your property. Now you have an unlivable home that must either be sold (at a loss), or have significant work done to prevent future flooding. Now you cannot build to the property line or have lost valuable structures from undercutting. Now you cannot use your back lot because the route you took across your neighbor’s land is gone. In any of these cases, you can file an inverse condemnation lawsuit to get back what has been taken from you.

What Compensation Can You Get?

In all cases, the US Constitution guarantees that you receive “just compensation” for property lost, and in Florida, the law states that you must be given “full compensation.” The amount of your compensation will depend on what rights you have lost.  If parts of your property are unusable, you can force the government to consider this a partial taking, and get severance damages.  If all your property is lost, the government will compensate you fully for the loss of your entire property at its highest and best use. Individual uses and rights will be appraised and compensated according to legal precedent and argument in a trial.

In addition to normal inverse condemnation procedures, the Bert J. Harris, Jr., Private Property Protection Act can allow you to receive compensation for situations where a governmental action “inordinately burdens” you by restricting how you can use your property, which can sometimes include zoning laws and other legal actions.

Disclaimer- Martyn L. Daniel represents both private parties and public agencies and provides these blog entries as a general overview on eminent domain related news.