I have done it several times. In my cases it was pretty much the easy button. Just had to wait for the docket.
From: Trevor Bough Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 6:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] FCC Live Link It's not quite that easy... You have to be authorized by the state to be able to use eminent domain and even then it is a very lengthy process (minimum of six months typically) and it has to be for "public use", which a utility can qualify as, but even after going to court for six months or more to prove that this is necessary for the public you are still at the mercy of the quart ruling that you are right and now have the luxury of paying the landowner for the access. It's not some magic automatic "Easy Button". On Feb 26, 2015 1:34 PM, "Chuck McCown" <[email protected]> wrote: If you need to cross property with your pole line or underground line, you can do so under the right of eminent domain. Landowner has no say so. You go to court, the judge bangs the gavel, and voila, instant ROW. However at that point in time the tables turn somewhat in the favor of the landowner as you have to compensate them for what you have taken. That that typically ends up at a place where it became a very expensive ROW... What you are talking about below is the establishment of a prescriptive ROW through your failure to defend your property. Another word for it is acquiescence or adverse possession. You can certainly lose your right to defend if you sit on your rights. So, yea, if they didn't have an easement or court order, cut down that pole. -----Original Message----- From: Adam Moffett Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 12:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] FCC Live Link What eminent domain actions can a utility take? My "knowledge" on that topic is all hearsay. I heard of a landowner who saw a company putting a pole in an empty lot that he owned across the street from his house. He watched them set the pole and then after the workers left he went out with a chainsaw and cut it down because they never asked him if they could put the pole there (so the story went). In his point of view, if he let them put the pole there, they have permanent rights to access that spot on his property because of eminent domain. You may even have the right of eminent domain now.
