White v. State

MADDOX, Justice.

“Attorney’s fees and expenses are not embraced within just compensation for land taken by eminent domain.”

This short, concise and direct quote, taken from Dohany v. Rogers, 281 U.S. 362, 368, 50 S.Ct. 299, 302, 74 L.Ed. 904 (1930), sustains the trial court’s judgment that attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses are not recoverable costs in an eminent domain proceeding.

The landowners, after a judgment was entered in circuit court based upon a jury verdict, filed a motion with the trial judge asking him to direct the circuit clerk to tax $35,000 as costs to pay their attorneys’…