Amason v. Natural Gas Pipeline Co.

RAY, Justice.

This is a land condemnation case involving the procedural issue of which party, condemnee or condemnor, bears the burden of going forward to trial to determine whether the condemnor possesses the right to condemn the sought-after land. We hold that when a condemnee properly contests a condemnor’s right to condemn, the con-demnor bears the burden to go forward to trial on that issue. In 1981, the Natural Gas Pipeline Company (Pipeline) sought a permanent easement across property owned by Randle and Ann Amason and the Veterans’ Land Board of the State of Texas (the Amasons) in…