Opinion ID: 3168928
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Principles Governing Inverse Condemnation

Text: Article I, section 26 of the Missouri Constitution provides “[t]hat private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.” Condemnation is the proceeding by which a governmental entity takes private property. State ex rel. Missouri Highway & Transp. Comm’n v. Anderson, 735 S.W.2d 350, 352 (Mo. banc 1987) (superceded by statute on other grounds). Missouri statutes provide procedures through which just compensation for this taking is determined and paid in accordance • Deciding whether to perform concrete “slab work.” 4 2 with the principles set out in article I, section 26. See, e.g., sections 523.010 to 523.215 (governing condemnation proceedings); sections 88.010 to 88.824 (governing a public entity’s condemnation for public works). This Court also has adopted procedures governing condemnation in Rule 86. “Both the statutes and our rule contemplate a twostep process. First, the court must determine whether … the condemning authority complied with the conditions precedent to bringing the action ... [and] [s]econdly, the court must establish the landowner’s damages from the taking.” State ex rel. Missouri Highway & Transp. Comm’n, 735 S.W.2d at 352. At times a public entity does not initiate condemnation proceedings but nonetheless intentionally or accidentally takes private property, such as when it damages private property or mistakes boundaries or property rights. In such cases, property owners may pursue claims for “inverse condemnation.” “Inverse condemnation is not an alternative to proper condemnation, but a method of … assur[ing] that landowners receive just compensation for that which was taken.” Harris v. L.P. & H. Const. Co., 441 S.W.2d 377, 381 (Mo. App. 1969). Accord, State ex rel City of Blue Springs v. Nixon, 250 S.W.3d 365, 371 (Mo. banc 2008).