Lawson v. State

STEELE, Chief Justice:

In this interlocutory appeal, we hold that the Superior Court judge erred when he found that a state agency complied with Delaware’s Real Property Acquisition Act before it moved to condemn property. Where a state agency bases its initial offer to purchase property on an appraisal that contains flawed assumptions about the property’s post-taking use, that agency cannot reasonably believe that it offered just compensation. The statute requires a state agency to make an offer that it reasonably believes is just compensation for the property before it initiates condemnation…