What Is a Commercial Condemnation Claim Worth?
Free during the beta: describe your own facts, or upload your documents, and get a damages range with the reasoning and the cases behind it.
How damages are usually measured
Just compensation is generally the fair market value of the property taken; in a partial taking it also covers the loss in value to the property that remains (severance damages), which some states offset by any benefit the project brings. Most cases come down to competing appraisals, and the gap between the condemning authority's offer and the owner's appraisal sets the range. Some states add interest, relocation costs or fee awards.
General background, not legal advice; the rules vary by state and by the documents in your deal.
What the calculator asks about
These are the facts it pulls from your description or documents for a commercial condemnation claim:
- Condemning authority's initial offer
- Does the dispute involve severance damages, access loss, or business value?
- Is the owner challenging the taking itself?
- Is this a pre-condemnation survey/access dispute?
- Is a regulatory taking alleged?
- Property's fair market value, if a regulatory taking is alleged
How it did on real cases
In CREdocket's published backtest (v4.3), the calculator's range contained the final outcome in 4 of 7 commercial condemnation claim cases, and in 17 of 32 cases across all categories. Each case below was run through the live calculator on a verbatim excerpt of the court's statement of facts and each side's contentions, with every sentence stating an award, finding or holding removed, then scored against the final result after any appeal.
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Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. v. BlueRoad Fontanel, LLC
Calculator range: $12.16M – $23.29M Final outcome: $13.9M Within the range -
HRT Enterprises v. City of Detroit
Calculator range: $1.43M – $5M Final outcome: $1.98M Within the range -
J. Nazzaro Partnership, L.P. v. State of New York
Calculator range: $26K – $1.7M Final outcome: $114K Within the range -
Elpa Builders, Inc. v. State of New York
Calculator range: $287K – $2M Final outcome: $284K Outside the range -
State of Texas v. Skyway Holdings LLC
Calculator range: $71K – $1M Final outcome: $509K Within the range -
KKS Properties, LLC v. State of New York
Calculator range: $1.13M – $3.93M Final outcome: $745K Outside the range -
Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of the City of St. Louis v. a property owner
Calculator range: $574K – $5M Final outcome: $573K Outside the range
Full backtest results and method →
Get a range for your own commercial condemnation claim
Describe both sides' positions, or upload the lease, loan documents, pleadings or appraisals. The estimate needs both sides' facts; a one-sided complaint alone is not enough to value a case. Sign-in is email only.
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Estimates are probability-weighted ranges from the facts you provide, not a prediction of any court's ruling and not legal advice.