Henson Fuerst partners David Henson and Chris Beacham announce a resolution of $1,250,000 for a property in Wake County in which they challenged overly broad taking language in a permanent utility easement (PUE) taken by the NC Department of Transportation. Attorneys with the firm have been innovators in filing section 108 hearings in cases across NC and pushing to hold the NC DOT accountable for language that exceeds the scope of what is absolutely necessary for the installation of public and private utilities. In this case at hand, the language allowed the installation of an unlimited number of items within the PUE area including: gas lines, telephone lines, wireless facilities, fences, signs, telephone poles, water lines, broadband communications, sewer lines, distributed antenna systems, and any other utilities that may be approved in the future. This win at a 108 hearing is only the second known order from a Superior Court Judge ruling in favor of property owners regarding the overly broad PUE’s used by the NC DOT and the potential to limit access and use within these areas.

This roadway-taking case involved multiple tracts of land including a residence, small industrial building, abandoned family homestead, a leased cell tower, and farmland. This case also involved direct and Map Act claims. The Department took the residence, cut through the existing farmland, and left a portion of the property landlocked. That portion of land could only be accessed through an adjoining family member's property.

The Department retained multiple experts in managing both claims. Under the Map Act claim, the Department offered a damages settlement of $87,000. Several years later, the Department provided additional damage reports which reflected approximately $781,000 in damages. Our attorneys ultimately resolved the matter for $1,725,000, for nearly twenty times more than the original offer.

Litigation, in this case, lasted more than 6 years, with the case defended by multiple lawyers from the NC Attorney General's office and private firms. The Department engaged multiple appraisers in the case, as did Henson Fuerst.

This case involved a 70-acre tract of future residential development land that included two long-term cell tower leases. David Henson and Anne Duvoisin filed an inverse condemnation claim under the Map Act alleging damages that bisected the property and left half of the property and one of the cell towers inaccessible. The Department subsequently moved forward with a direct condemnation claim, which also bisected the property (but did not impact either of the cell tower leases) and resulted in a loss of 10 acres of right of way, and small permanent utility easements, and a temporary drainage easement. The final plan did include a service road that allowed access to that portion of the property which would have been cut off by the roadway project.

The Department was represented by both the NC Attorney General's office and private counsel, with an appraisal expert. The initial offer from the Department was $58,850. Our office retained multiple appraisal experts who provided damage valuations for both the direct and Map Act parts of the case. The case was resolved and paid out for a total amount of $1,200,000. This was a 1,939% increase from the initial offer.

This roadway-taking case was for the construction of a bypass project by the Department. The property was a working farm of more than 215 acres, but our clients had residential subdivision development plans from engineering and design experts to put more than 250 homesites and 17,000 linear feet of streets and infrastructure on the property. Our firm litigated both a direct condemnation action along a Map Act claim.

The Department's actions took 19 acres right away, bisecting the farm. It also took permanent utility easements of less than one acre. The Department's appraiser valued the damage to the property at $141,000.

The case was resolved after two years of litigation against the Department for a total of $995,000, or a 606% increase over the initial offer.