Washington Eminent Domain Lawyer | Damages to the Remainder

Being subjected to eminent domain in Washington state, whether it is Seattle, Yakima, Pullman, or some other town, is no fun. Assuming your property is needed for public purposes, the only thing you can do is make sure you extract all of the money that is due to you under Washington state eminent domain law.

One of the critical factors affecting just compensation are damages to the remainder. Damages to remainder include all those things that might devalue the property you have left after the government takes what it needs. It is a difficult concept sometimes to grasp without using examples. So examples you will have.

A great example of damages to the remainder happens when your property is severed. Severed property is exactly what you might think - your property is literally cut in half. This often occurs with larger tracts, and can include things like farms and planned but not yet build, subdivisions. A new alignment of road needs to be built, or power lines or sewer lines or gas lines are needed, and the only place they can go is right through the middle of your property.

The calculation of damages that go to just compensation for the eminent domain taking are incurred because even though you still have the property left over, in a theoretical world if you tried to sell it, you would not be able to get as much for it as you would have before the taking occurred. You, the landowner, are entitled to receive compensation for the lost value the land you have remaining incurs from the taking of your property.

For example, let's say you own an 80 acre rectangle of property. The Washington Department of Transportation needs to put a new controlled access highway (only accessible by interchanges) right through the middle of your property. After the taking you will have 14 acres on one side of the road and 24 acres on the right side of the road. Although you still have those 38 acres, the properties value for agricultural purposes has been significantly diminished - now your property is much smaller and now it is going to be much harder to farm since there is a highway running right through the middle of it. You are entitled to that loss in value as part of your payment of just compensation. Sometimes these damages can be significant. If your property was worth $1000 an acre before the taking and you have 20% damages, you would get an additional $6800 dollars - not chump change.

If your property is being taken, please consult a Washington state eminent domain lawyer. If the government is going to take your property, let's make them pay what it is worth.