Michigan Lawyers Weekly recently published their list of the biggest verdicts and settlements of 2019. Our firm’s verdict in the HRT v City of Detroit case ($4.25 Million) was the #8 verdict in the state during 2019.
We originally filed this inverse condemnation lawsuit on behalf of our client in 2012. Inverse condemnation cases typically arise when a government agency has taken action against a landowner or a property to prevent the property from being used or developed, but the government has not formally filed eminent domain (condemnation) proceedings.
In this case, our client owned property adjacent to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport. In 2015, Judge Avern Cohn ruled that the City had inversely condemned HRT’s property. Trial was held in April 2019 to determine (1) the date of taking and (2) the value of the property as of that date. The jury found that the property was taken as of January 1, 2009, and the property was valued at $4.25 Million as of that date.
The case was stayed for several years due to the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing, but because this case arose out of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Judge Steven Rhodes found that this claim was not discharged in bankruptcy. This was one of very few claims against the City that was allowed to survive bankruptcy.
Please contact us if you have questions, or if you believe that a government agency has inversely condemned your property.
This blog post was drafted by Melissa Demorest LeDuc, Esq.
