The condemnation process allows Texas state authorities to force the sale of real property even if the owner would prefer not to sell. Projects intended for public benefits that require land may lead to eminent domain claims against nearby properties, including...
Texas Eminent Domain Law Blog
How does condemnation impact the value of real property?
In Texas, state authorities can use eminent domain laws to lay claim to privately-owned real property. The state can condemn agricultural, commercial, industrial and residential properties for projects that will benefit the public, such as utility projects and highway...
How homeowners can respond to condemnation for highway projects
The Texas economy keeps growing, and so the state’s roads have to expand as well. In addition to adding new miles of paved streets, Texas has also made major investments in expanding its existing highway infrastructure. Such expansions take years and cost millions,...
Charles McFarland Named to 2022 List of Texas Super Lawyers
Charles McFarland has been named to the 2022 list of Texas Super Lawyers in his sole area of practice, Eminent Domain. He was additionally recognized again as a Top 100 Lawyer in Houston. Board certified in Civil Trial Law, Charles has focused on statutory...
Massive road investments in Texas could affect property owners
Texas is a huge state with a lot of roads to maintain that service everything from personal vehicles to oil tankers transporting crude. The ever-growing domestic economy in Texas also means that there is increasing pressure on the established roadways. Lawmakers...
Family Ranch and Easement Agreements
Around this time two years ago, I attended a family wedding that stands out in my memory for a few reasons. First, it was a “deep pandemic” wedding – rescheduled twice, outdoor-only, with a drastically scaled-down guest list and favors of hand sanitizer reading “in...
Market changes can be devastating for those facing condemnation
When the state wants to lay claim to your real property for a large project, like high-speed railways or road expansions, you face condemnation. Residential property, unimproved land and even commercial properties are all at risk of claims brought under eminent domain...
Infrastructure in Houston’s East End
I remember thinking “this is an unusual place” as I drove down a sparsely-populated-for-rush-hour stretch of Leeland past the Oak Farms plant to visit my then-boyfriend at his Eastwood bungalow over ten years ago. The sproutings of town home farms transitioned to...
TXDOT is Coming for a Road Near You, Now What? The Offer Phase
This is the second in a series of posts outlining the condemnation process in Texas when TXDOT expands or improves a roadway. The first post explained TXDOT’s steps from project initiation to making an offer to a landowner to acquire the property needed for the...
Valuing Property in Development
Over the last 20 years, I have presented many times at the Eminent Domain SuperConference in Austin, Texas at the invitation of my colleagues at Barron & Adler (now Barron, Adler, Clough & Oddo). This year I addressed “sticky wickets,” those difficult compensation...