Issue

Restrictions recorded under the Roadway Corridor Official Map Act—damages not raised in condemnation action—right to damages abandoned

Summary

Although restrictions were imposed on private property by a highway corridor map recorded in 1992 pursuant the now-repealed Roadway Corridor Official Map Act–a taking by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (defendant) which entitled the landowner (plaintiff) to damages–plaintiff abandoned his right to seek such damages via his 2018 inverse condemnation action where he had failed to raise the issue in a prior condemnation action affecting the property: a complaint and declaration of taking concerning plaintiff's property (including portions of the land restricted by the 1992 map), filed by defendant in 2010 and settled by entry of a consent judgment in 2011. The Map Act provides for the waiver of further proceedings for compensation where pertinent affirmative defenses were not pleaded in earlier matters affecting the restricted property (N.C.G.S. § 136-106). Accordingly, the decision of the Court of Appeals, affirming trial court's application of N.C.G.S. § 136-111 (providing remedies where no complaint and declaration of taking was filed) to permit plaintiff to pursue damages, was reversed.

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