Small Businesses and Eminent Domain
We Are the Champions of Small Business Owners
The idea of your property being taken away by the government can be frightening and can threaten your small business. Waldo & Lyle exists to protect Virginia small business owners like you from potential eminent domain threats. We fight for your rights and obtain fair compensation if your property is taken. For small business owners, condemnation may impact not just the business and real estate but also many related long-established plans for the future.
What Is Eminent Domain?
Eminent domain is the power of the government to take private property for public use. It involves the government exercising its right to purchase land, homes, businesses, or other private properties for building roads, highways, and other public projects.
When a property is seized under eminent domain, the owner of that property must be compensated for its fair market value and the reduction in the value of the remaining property. This can be a difficult process, especially for small business owners who may not be familiar with all of the rights they have.
How Does It Affect Small Businesses?
An eminent domain proceeding can have a devastating impact on small businesses. Sometimes, a business may be forced to relocate or close, disrupting operations and causing an outsized financial burden. In other cases, the government may offer the business less than fair market value for their property. A threatened condemnation can significantly impact the business’s cash flow and profitability.
Small businesses are often put at a significant disadvantage if they do not retain legal representation necessary to fight a powerful governmental entity. This is where Waldo & Lyle can assist.
We help ensure that small businesses receive fair compensation for their property and provide them with legal counsel when dealing with government entities. There are many unique considerations for small businesses facing condemnation, including whether they are entitled to make a claim for lost profits or relocation benefits. An experienced firm can negotiate favorable terms and help small businesses through the eminent domain process.
By helping small business owners navigate the complex rules and regulations of the proceedings, Waldo & Lyle can help level the playing field and work to achieve the best possible outcome.
What Should Small Business Owners Do?
Small business owners need to understand their rights in an eminent domain situation. Owners should make sure they are aware of the details of the project and the process that will be used to acquire their property. They should also make sure they understand how their property will be valued and what will be included or omitted in the valuation process.
It is also vital that small business owners remain organized throughout the process. Any records of communication with the government entity, requests for information or documents, and offers to purchase the property must be kept.
The small business owner should consider seeking the help of an eminent domain lawyer who only represents property owners in condemnation cases. Waldo & Lyle can provide invaluable assistance by advocating for the business owner’s interests throughout the process.
How Waldo & Lyle Helps Small Businesses
Waldo & Lyle’s attorneys are knowledgeable of the legal complexities of these matters and can provide guidance to understand the situation, from the initial contact the government makes all the way through negotiating or litigating a resolution that protects the business’s property rights and balances its other concerns.
With a knowledgeable and experienced Virginia eminent domain attorney by your side, small business owners can feel more confident in their ability to protect their rights and interests.
Small Business: Success Stories
A small business owner often feels like the government has put a gun to its head when it decides to take a piece of his street frontage, parking lot, or work yard.
Just ask Bob Wilson and Glenn Trent. In the video, Bob Wilson explains how bewildered he was when the City of Norfolk condemned his family-run, generations-old small business for a shopping center. In the same way, Glenn Trent was unsure what to do when the City of Lynchburg decided to close two of the three driveways into his wrecker service and tire company, driveways he had used for more than 60 years. It turns out that the City of Lynchburg didn’t know much either. The City insisted that it was following the law when it refused to pay for changing Trent’s property by making it next to impossible to get big trucks — the heart of his business — in and out. Waldo and Lyle went to court and proved that the City misunderstood the law and had violated Trent’s constitutional right to just compensation.
As a result, the City settled for 16 times what it had originally determined as fair and legal. The victory delivered a bonus for every small business in Lynchburg; the City learned that the Virginia Constitution applies even in Lynchburg, and it must make payment for damages like those it caused to Trent.
Bob Wilson, Central Radio Company