Vermont Statutes Title 19 Sec. 514
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 19 Sec. 514
- Agency: means the Agency of Transportation. See
- Appraisal: A determination of property value.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- property owner: means a person who has a legal interest of record in the property taken or proposed to be taken. See
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
§ 514. Award of costs in damages action; litigation expenses in inverse condemnation action
(a) If a damages award by a court is more than the Agency‘s offer of just compensation or offer of judgment, whichever is greater, the court shall award the property owner his or her reasonable costs. If the damages award is less than or equal to the greater of the Agency’s offer of just compensation or offer of judgment, the court shall award the Agency its reasonable costs.
(b) If a court renders judgment in favor of a property owner in an inverse condemnation action or if the Agency effects a settlement of an inverse condemnation action, the court shall award the owner his or her reasonable costs and other litigation expenses, including reasonable attorney’s, appraisal, and engineering fees actually incurred because of the proceeding. (Added 1985, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 27; 2011, No. 126 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)