Temporary Easement – Damages

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WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Kenneth Ransom v. Village of Cross Plains

Case No.: 2015AP1556

Officials: Lundsten, Higginbotham and Blanchard, JJ

Focus: Temporary Easement – Damages

By exercise of its eminent domain power, the Village of Cross Plains acquired a portion of Kenneth Ransom’s property for a road project. Ransom appealed the just compensation amount to the circuit court, and, while that appeal was pending, the Village temporarily used a different portion of Ransom’s property for the same project. Ransom sought damages for this temporary easement in the context of his pending just compensation appeal. The circuit court excluded those alleged damages and instead adopted the Village’s position that Ransom’s remedy for temporary easement-related damages was an inverse condemnation claim. Ransom now appeals to this court, renewing his claim that the easement-related damages are compensable as part of his just compensation appeal. Because Ransom fails to persuade us that he is correct, we affirm. The parties have not briefed whether Ransom may still bring his inverse condemnation claim and, therefore, we do not weigh in on that question.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.