Eminent Domain and Property Rights Practice
Our Firm’s eminent domain and condemnation practice is centered on representing property and business owners throughout Illinois. When a government entity or public utility seeks to acquire private property, the consequences can be substantial and long lasting. Homes, businesses, offices, industrial facilities, agricultural land, and investment properties may be taken in whole or in part, or encumbered by permanent or temporary easements that alter access, use, and value. Owners in these circumstances benefit from our experienced eminent domain counsel dedicated to protecting their constitutional rights and securing just compensation.
The Eminent Domain Process
Eminent domain is not a routine real estate matter. It is a legal process governed by constitutional principles, statutory requirements, and established valuation standards. While condemning authorities often characterize acquisitions as procedural or unavoidable, the law imposes meaningful limitations on the exercise of this power. A taking must serve a legitimate public use or purpose, and the owner is entitled to just compensation that reflects not only the property acquired, but also the impact on the remaining property. Our practice is adept at ensuring these protections are respected and enforced throughout the process.
The Eminent Domain Process
Eminent domain is not a routine real estate matter. It is a legal process governed by constitutional principles, statutory requirements, and established valuation standards. While condemning authorities often characterize acquisitions as procedural or unavoidable, the law imposes meaningful limitations on the exercise of this power. A taking must serve a legitimate public use or purpose, and the owner is entitled to just compensation that reflects not only the property acquired, but also the impact on the remaining property. Our practice is adept at ensuring these protections are respected and enforced throughout the process.
Representation From the Earliest Stages
We represent property and business owners at all stages of the condemnation process, including early counseling and planning before a case is filed. Decisions made during initial communications with the government, including survey or environmental access requests, or appraisal inspections can significantly affect valuation and legal rights throughout the process. Careful guidance at the outset of a condemnation matter allows owners to better protect their interests, preserve claims, maximize compensation, and maintain leverage as the matter progresses.
Public Infrastructure and Large Scale Public Works Projects
A significant portion of our eminent domain practice involves representation of property and business owners impacted by public infrastructure projects. These projects commonly arise from highway expansions, tollway improvements, transit and rail projects, airport development, utility corridors, pipeline installations, flood control initiatives, and municipal redevelopment efforts, including new data center developments. We have represented hundreds of property and business owners in matters involving federal and state agencies, municipalities, counties, transit authorities, railroads, park districts, and utilities across the Chicago metropolitan area and throughout Illinois. These projects often involve partial takings, access limitations, construction impacts, costs to cure, and permanent restrictions that may not be fully reflected in the government’s initial offers.
Valuation and Compensation Analysis
Our focus is to maximize just compensation. Initial compensation proposals frequently underestimate the true impact of a taking. In partial acquisitions, the most significant harm is often to the remainder property rather than the land physically acquired. Loss of access, reduced functionality, operational disruption, diminished development potential, and removal of improvements are common concerns. We work closely with experienced eminent domain appraisers, engineers, and other skilled experts and professionals to evaluate all compensable elements of loss, including damages to the remainder property, costs to cure, easement impacts, business effects, and relocation costs under applicable federal law.
Litigation Experience
While many eminent domain matters are resolved through negotiation, our practice is well established in litigation when negotiations fail. We have served as first chair trial counsel in numerous jury and bench trials in Illinois state and federal courts, as well as in post-trial proceedings and appeals. We have successfully tried numerous cases against federal and state agencies, municipalities, pipeline companies and utilities, obtaining verdicts and settlements substantially exceeding original offers. Eminent domain trial experience matters and informs and guides strategy, strengthens negotiation positions, and ensures that condemning authorities understand the case will be fully prepared for trial if resolution cannot be reached.
Insight Into Condemning Authorities
Our decades of eminent domain experience includes service as Special Assistant Attorney General representing the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority on land acquisition for major public infrastructure projects and representing municipalities in similar circumstances. This background provides valuable insight into how acquiring authorities evaluate property, analyze damages, structure acquisitions, and assess litigation risk. That understanding allows for more effective advocacy on behalf of property and business owners and informed decision making throughout the process.
Clients and Property Types Served
We have represented a broad range of property and business owners, including homeowners, farmers, commercial, retail, office, and industrial owners, developers, investors, lenders, non-profit and religious organizations, hospitals, and universities. Each matter presents distinct issues, since no two properties are the same. Our representation is tailored to the nature of the property, the scope of the taking, and the owners’ goals and objectives, whether preserving continued use, protecting future development potential, or maximizing compensation.
Professional Recognition and Service
We have been consistently recognized by our peers as leading lawyers in eminent domain, land use, and zoning. For over thirty years, we have also been called upon to speak, teach, and write about numerous eminent domain and condemnation issues.
Contact
If you have been contacted by a government agency or utility regarding the potential taking of your property, or if you have questions concerning your rights, we welcome the opportunity to assist you. Please contact Stephen Viz at stephen.viz@elrodfriedman.com or (312) 528-5203 or another Elrod Friedman attorney for assistance.