ITC, through its affiliated entity METC, has published an advertisement on the Coldwater Daily Reporter seeking to confirm the identity of potential property owners in Girard and Union Townships as a prelude to finalizing their good faith offers.
A condemning authority is obligated to include all property owners in a good faith offer and condemnation lawsuit. Owner is a defined term under the Uniform Condemnation Procedures Act. “‘Owner’ means a person, fiduciary, partnership, association, corporation, or a governmental unit or agency having an estate, title, or interest, including beneficial, possessory, and security interest, in a property sought to be condemned.” MCL 213.51.
METC recently ran the following advertisement in the Coldwater Daily Reporter seeking the identity of any owners who are not reflected in the chain of title. For example, this would include farmer tenants who would suffer crop damage as a result of construction. Here is the advertisement.
This advertisement is a clear indication that METC will be issuing formal good faith offers in the near future. It is actually a very responsible act by METC, which is seeking to confirm that it has not excluded anybody who is entitled to just compensation from the offer. After issuing the good faith offers, METC will file condemnation lawsuits.
The advertisement identifies the property owners who have held out and not accepted METC’s prior offers. I currently represent the majority of those property owners.
This blog post describes some of the just compensation issues that my clients may face.
If you are facing any eminent domain issues, including the condemnation cases contemplated by ITC/METC in the Coldwater area, please feel free to contact me.