Appellate case law update

To access case, press here

Sullivan, Justice.

In this case, certain property owners appealed a trial court’s order of condemnation and appropriation in respect of land for sewer easements and persuaded the Court of Appeals to stay the trial court’s order requiring an appeal bond. We assumed jurisdiction of the case to vacate the action of the Court of Appeals and now affirm the judgment of the trial court on the merits.


Key Analysis (slip op. at 5, 7, 9, 10): Indiana Code § 8-1-8-1 and I.C. § 32-24-4-1 are clearly not repugnant to one another and thus present no impediment to West Boggs exercising condemnation authority . . . Because West Boggs hired an independent appraiser and it used the appraisal in the Offer Letters prior to the commencement of condemnation proceedings, West Boggs’s offer was in good faith as a matter of law . . . the Property Owners had ample notice of and multiple opportunities to respond to West Boggs’s Motion for Summary Judgment . . . None of the Property Owners responded within the required 30 days and after 39 days the trial court entered individual summary judgments . . . As such, the Property Owners were not denied their due process rights. They had an opportunity to respond but did not do so.

Shepard, C.J., and Dickson, Boehm, and Rucker, JJ., concur.