Washington Eminent Domain Procedure | Part II

In the last post, I outlined the Washington eminent domain process from the point at which the government learns that they need your property to the point where negotiations break down and eminent domain proceedings are required. Remember, as soon as you find out your property will be taken, it is important to get a good Washington eminent domain lawyer. They can save you time and potentially increase the amount of money you receive from the government.

This post will cover the process when eminent domain proceedings are inevitable. At that time most of what the government must do is controlled by statute (written rules).

Washington Eminent Domain Rules Broken Down by State, County, City, School Districts, and Corporations

The Revised Code of Washington is the compilation of all permanent laws now in force. Title 8 of Revised Code of Washington is titled "Eminent Domain." As would be expected Title 8 holds most, if not all, of the Washington eminent domain procedural rules.

When you first get to Title 8 of the Washington Revised Code, you will see that the rules are broken down depending on which governmental entity is taking your property (or private entity if a corporation). Despite the rules being broken up, eminent domain proceedings by Washington State, a Washington County, or a Washington City, are pretty much uniform. If you want to know the difference, please contact a good washington eminent domain lawyer.

Washington Eminent Domain Procedure for States, Cities, and Counties

Eminent Domain Petition

The first step in actually condemning property in Washington is filing the petition for appropriation. The petition (lawyer speak for lawsuit) must be filed in the county where the land is located. It must also reasonably describe the property, identify all those with an interest in the land (tenants included) that can be known with reasonable certainty, why the property is needed, and requesting that a jury be impaneled to determine the amount of compensation to be awarded for taking the property. RCW 8.04.010

The petition is usually a pretty straightforward document doing as the instructions require. Notice that the sole question to be determined by the jury (or court depending on which is agreed to by the parties) is the amount of compensation. Whether or not the land can be taken by eminent domain is an entirely different question, and will be addressed at another time.

Notice that Petition Filed and Service on Landowners

Once the petition for eminent domain is filed it must be served on all the parties listed, and an attempt must be made to notify anyone that might have an interest in the property but might not be able to be found by the government. Usually the notice will have a copy of the petition and a date where the petition will first be addressed by the court. At this point in time if you are serious about challenging the governments determination of just compensation you should hire an experienced eminent domain attorney. RCW 8.04.020

Hearing to Determine Public Use

As I mentioned earlier, the government can only take your property for public use. Once the petition is filed the court will have a hearing to ensure both (1) that notice has been properly served on all parties having any interest in the property; and (2) that the government's use is for a public purpose.

If public use is questioned, but the court finds the taking is for public use, then you as a landowner must file an appeal within five days of the entry of the order with the appellant court for a separate hearing. Examples of this, both successful and unsuccessful will be discussed at a later date. RCW 8.04.070

Order Directing Determination of Damages and offsetting Benefits

Assuming the need of the property is for public use, at the conclusion of the hearing, the Judge will enter an order directing determination of damages and offsetting benefits. This order must set a trial date within 30 days of the date of the order if a jury is available, or 60 days if no jury is immediately available.

The determination to be made is just compensation for the property owners. What this means how much value was lost because of the taking. Although this too will be discussed in more detail at a later date, valuation of just compensation in eminent domain proceedings really takes into account three things: (1) the fair market value of the property acquired; (2) any damages to property remaining (if any); and (3) any special and direct benefit accruing to the remaining property as a result of the improvement. Taking all three of these things into account results in a determination of just compensation. RCW 8.04.080

Although this is not the end, this post is long enough. The conclusion to eminent domain procedure for Washington State, Washington counties (including King County, Pierce County, Snohomish County, Kitsap County, Thurston County, Yakima County, and all the others), and Washington cities (including Seattle, Redmond, Everett, Bellevue, Tacoma, Yakima, Kennewick, Olympia, Bellingham, Spokane, Issaquah, Federal Way, Kent, Woodinville, and Auburn) will be in my next post.