Opinion ID: 1651686
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Property Owners' claims are ripe

Text: Property Owners need not wait until their property is condemned to seek precondemnation damages, as suits can seek awards of damages for harm that is ongoing. See Davis v. Laclede Gas Co., 603 S.W.2d 554, 556 (Mo. banc 1980) (holding that in cases where the wrong may be said to continue from day to day, and to create fresh injury from day to day, and the wrong is capable of being terminated, a right of action exists for the damages suffered within the statutory period immediately preceding suit.); Cacioppo v. Sw. Bell Tel. Co., 550 S.W.2d 919, 925 (Mo.App. 1977) (rejecting the argument that a continuing trespass by defendant utility company for two decades entitled the plaintiff to damages lasting until the defendant's trespass ceased because if such were the case, it would seem that if defendant never removed the [trespassing] junction box, plaintiff's cause of action would never accrue); see also Chesterfield Vill., Inc. v. City of Chesterfield, 64 S.W.3d 315, 320 (Mo. banc 2002) (finding a party can assert a claim for damages even though the precise nature of and extent of an injury may be unknown, and thereby suggesting that a final municipal action  such as formal condemnation proceedings  is not a requirement of ripeness in a tort cause of action).