The Oakland County Road Commission plans to widen Novi Road, potentially encroaching on private properties for easements, and affected property owners are invited to seek additional compensation for potential impacts on zoning compliance, signage, and vegetation.

Having had a chance to examine a couple of the Easement Option Agreement packages that METC’s right of way agents have distributed, here is my perspective on why they can be summed up as “more rights for less money.”

This post highlights how collective representation strengthens property owners' cases in the METC Helix and Oneida Substation projects. Contact me to discuss your options—no retainer required, and representation ends at no cost if no rights are acquired.

Consumers Energy is seeking easements in Roscommon County with minimal compensation, impacting property values through tree removal and reduced curb appeal. I represent clients on a contingency basis to secure fair compensation above Consumers' initial offer—contact me to discuss your options.

This post examines just compensation claims attributable to changes in grade caused by road construction and the impacts of the taking on zoning compliance.

It is sometimes necessary to retain experts beyond real estate appraisers to quantify just compensation. This post focuses on two cases in which civil engineers provided assistance, including a recent matter requiring preparation of before and after taking site plans and cost estimates to measure the impact of a pipeline easement.

When evaluating before-taking value, the impact of the project must be disregarded. This is called the Scope of the Project Rule.  This post discusses the application of the rule in two cases involving projects that had been contemplated for decades and caused significant negative impacts on properties that, when disregarded, justified higher values before the taking.

Damages to the remainder can be measured by evaluating the costs necessary to cure an impact of a taking. But Michigan law only allows cost to cure to be used when it is less than the total damages incurred. This post discusses cost to cure in a case where access was prevented unless a bridge was built.

Michigan Electric Transmission Company is filing new condemnation lawsuits that may be legally deficient to support a solar farm.

You might be familiar with the practice of deferring gain through like-kind exchanges under IRC §1031. The rules governing like-kind exchanges are strict, and the deadlines are short. Section 1033 provides a more relaxed procedure, with more generous deadlines, for avoiding gain arising from “involuntary conversions.”  

I’ve been selected for inclusion in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for my work in Eminent Domain and Condemnation.

Michigan Electric Transmission Company (“METC”), which is related to International Transmission Company or ITC, is pursuing two petitions for Michigan Public Service Commission approval. It is starting land acquisition by sending letters advising property owners that land consultants will be contacting them in the coming weeks to obtain easements.

The location of a leading published opinion discussing necessity standards barring the acquisition of excessive rights precedes two stops in Detroit where successful challenges occurred.

The parking lot of a church in Detroit was not acquired to be part of the Comerica Park footprint because the definition of parcel would have required payment of significant damages to the remainder attributable to the church building itself.

A fast food restaurant in Walled Lake serves as an example of a supervariance acquired by an agency to mitigate just compensation claims stemming from zoning non-compliances created by an easement acquisition.

Cases in Pontiac, Franklin, and Rochester Hills involving nominal good faith offers and significant just compensation increases on a percentage basis illustrate that even small good faith offers should be reviewed by experienced eminent domain counsel.

Explore Michigan’s evolving public use standards involving accompanying private benefits with stops at the sites of the Poletown, Hathcock, and Adell decisions.

Efforts being made to obtain right of way for a project that was approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission.

The Supreme Court applied the exaction test, which limits conditions placed on obtaining zoning approval, to both legislative and administrative permit conditions.

The United States Supreme Court allows property owners to pursue claims attributable to flooding of their properties caused by a dam built to protect a hurricane evacuation route.