Washington Eminent Domain Lawyer | Chicago Woman Wins $25 Million Judgment

As a Washington eminent domain lawyer that takes great pride in helping landowners get the most money possible for their property, it is always nice to see a story in the news where the landowner beats the government in court. It is not that landowner don't often win, they do. But very often these victories come in settlements with city or state governments (see, for example, the Washington eminent domain victory regarding the Mercer Mess, settled for $8.4 million) or are not widely reported in the news.

But this one was so sweet I just had to talk about it. The landowner is a 101 year old woman who owns a golf course in the Chicago area. Several years ago (10 to be exact) a developer approached her and offered $25 million for the property, obviously to develop it into something else. She politely declined. Later, the city decided they needed it for some public project, and guess what their offer was? Do you think it was even close to $25 million? Their offer was between $5 and $6 million dollars.

How did the city get to determining the just compensation for this landowner and presenting this offer of just compensation? Did they use standard appraisal methods to determine what the property was worth that they were taking? Yes, they did. But, like many government appraisers, they failed to take into account the whole picture, and like the old saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. Despite the developer's offer 10 years ago, the city appraisers determined that the property could not be rezoned and developed, and appraised the property as a golf course, clearly the wrong highest and best use.

So, what did the landowner do? She did what you should to if your property is being taken by the government - hire an eminent domain attorney. The landowner's eminent domain lawyer was able to (probably very easily) analyze her property and see that the city had made a critical error. But the city, like most governments, held on and refused to acknowledge the argument of the landowner and her attorney.

So they went to trial. And they won big. You can read all of the details of the story here. But after the jury verdict, the city is waiting to determine if they really want to buy the property for what it is worth, instead of sneaking in a grabbing it for pennies on the dollar like so often happens. If the city doesn't pay the award, the landowner gets to keep the property and the city has to pay her attorney's fees, which I hope happens in this case.

If you are in Washington state, whether in Seattle, Yakima, Spokane, Everett, Tri-Cities, Vancouver, Olympia, King County, Spokane County, Yakima County, or anywhere else and your land is being taken by eminent domain, call CMS Law Firm LLC today. We'll analyze your offer of just compensation and make the government pay for it (they have to by law) and won't get paid unless we get you money over the amount of the initial offer of just compensation. As Washington eminent domain lawyers, we know how to analyze your case to maximize the money you get for your property.