Issue

Condemnation—Map Act—recordation of highway corridor map—rescinded years later—indefinite taking—measure of damages

Summary

In a condemnation case involving restrictions imposed upon plaintiffs' private property through the recordation of a highway corridor map pursuant to the Map Act, which remained in effect for nearly twenty years until the General Assembly rescinded all Map Act corridors in response to Kirby v. N.C. Dep't of Transp., 368 N.C. 847 (2016), which held that Map Act restrictions constituted takings by eminent domain, the Court of Appeals' decision treating the restrictions on plaintiffs' property as temporary takings–for purposes of calculating just compensation–was reversed. Under Kirby and other binding precedent, corridor recordings under the Map Act constituted indefinite takings of fundamental property rights, and the corridors' rescission years later did not retroactively convert these takings into temporary ones, since the nature of a taking must be determined at the moment it occurs. Accordingly, the proper measure of damages in this case would have been the difference between the fair market value of plaintiffs' property immediately before and immediately after the corridor map was recorded, considering all pertinent factors including the indefinite nature of the restrictions and any effect of reduced ad valorem taxes.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →