Milwaukee Rising

Gov. Doyle’s budget proposal would strip legal rights and potential state protections from property rights who challenge the State Department of Transportation when it grabs privately-owned land for transportation projects, budget documents show.

Doyle accepted a WisDOT budget request to limit legal fees a court can award to lawyers who represent property owners who successfully claim that WisDOT shortchanged them in the amounts the agency offered for property. The governor  is proposing that attorney’s fees in litigated compensation cases be limited to one−third of the difference between WisDOT’s offer and the court-awarded purchase price, except that if one−third of that difference is less than $5,000, the amount of attorney fees included in litigation expenses may not exceed $5,000.

The limits would apply when the court-awarded sales price exceeds the the WisDOT offer by at least $700 and at least 15 percent.

WisDOT made it clear, in its original budget request, that its intent was to discourage lawyers from representing property owners.

“Litigating land purchases consumes more time and resources within the Department compared to negotiating directly with landowners,” the department said. “It could adversely affect the timeline of highway construction projects. Securing land can be a first step in a project and any delays can impact final completion and overall project cost.”

Doyle’s budget also would strip residents legal protections from residents who challenge government land grabs. Under current law, the Daprtment of Commerce can investigate  when the state tries to condemn and take property to make sure the state is obeying the law. If there are violations, Commerce can take the state to court. The governor wants to end the department’s ability to help the land owner.

Doyle also would kill the right of a person who loses their property to appeal to Commerce for review of his or her complaint. Under current law, Commerce can try to negotiate an acceptable solution with the agency that condemned the property. Commerce would not be able to do that under Doyle’s budget.

Finally, Doyle’s budget would kill a law that  the attorney general, at the request of Commerce, to prosecute all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of the laws relating to relocation benefits.